Sporting a new brand such as "New Labour" is a very ambiguous move on the part of the Labour Party, more so, since the slogan alone will not alter the fact that the same old faces with the same old attitudes still permeate the party.
It is impossible to separate today’s Labour Party from the party of 30 years ago because a number of its Members of Parliament remain from that era and there has been an uninterrupted inheritance of dubious policies from that far back.
If, in the last 20 years the MLP remained unelectable, what will change that now? Replacing the leader and leaving the ashes of burned up policies of yore around the new leader will not cure the malady. The persistence of spokespersons of the MLP to denigrate whatever the government embarks on, or reinstate what past Labour governments arbitrarily cancelled, is further proof that nothing in the last 20 years has changed.
Deputy leader Charles Mangion (of all people!) labelled the re-application to join the PfP as a ‘manifestation of arrogance’, conveniently forgetting that his own brief government arrogantly and without consultation revoked the membership in the same organisation back in 1996. It took that government exactly three days after being elected to withdraw from PfP and the exuberant Dr Sant himself travelled to Brussels to make sure that the withdrawal took immediate effect.
Dr Mangion also forgot that his government of 22 months also froze Malta’s application to join the European Union notwithstanding the fact that the previous Eddie Fenech Adami government was elected on the EU ticket. He also forgot that his party advised the Gonzi government that it was not an opportune time to adopt the euro on 1 January, 2008 and that perhaps 2010 would be a more suitable time frame to start thinking about it!
Before the election the MLP’s accusations of lethargy, incompetence and wrongdoing on the part of the Gonzi government were interpreted as just election gimmicks and designed for vote catching purposes, but for the same tactics to continue after they lost, except in reverse, by accusing the government now, that they went ahead too fast and with lack of consultation with them is just incredible.
Labour wants things to evolve at their own pace which does not jive with today’s realities. Had the Gonzi government chosen temerity and taken the opposition’s advice, we would still be an isolated little island trying to gain some sort of recognition, not part of the European Union, still trading with the lira which was not recognised anywhere and subject to currency fluctuations, and foreign investment would have been much harder to attract. SmartCity would have gone elsewhere resulting in the loss of 5,600 jobs let alone the rehabilitation of a derelict area near Ricasoli.
Yes, some things never change, within the Labour Party, that is, because things did change and continue to change in a most progressive way under yet another Nationalist government.
Joe Martinelli
London, Ontario
Canada