Tomorrow Joseph Muscat will be sworn in as an MP and also as Opposition Leader. Although he never ran for the general elections in Malta, he has behind him the backing of 36,958 Maltese and Gozitan voters who gave him their first preference when he ran on the MLP ticket as an MEP candidate in 2004.

He brings with him a wealth of experience of networking with key European personalities, hard work on various committees and rapporteurships and most important of all, more than four years of direct representation of the interests of Maltese citizens – regardless of their political orientation – by trying to turn what originally started off as a talking shop into an influential organisation where problems and issues of direct concern to the Maltese electorate were not only highlighted, but also addressed and in a number of cases also successfully concluded.

All those people that I know who resorted to his offices for any assistance were always impressed by his prompt attention and deep interest in any case that landed on his desk, PDA or laptop.

That is something I can vouch for since many constituents have brought this positive aspect to my direct attention over the years, of their own free will.

I am sure that Joseph will be showing the same commitment, attention and perseverance in his new role by being firm, robust in his criticism but also positive and pro-active without resorting to the type of histrionics voters have long been subjected to in an overdose manner.

I am sure that rather than just proving to be the perfect match for Lawrence Gonzi he will be smart, alert, agile and quick to make deft moves that will never resort to gimmickry.

More than anything else he will be putting the national interest first as he has always done in all the international fora he has participated in.

While he will be a hard act to follow, what will be the Socialist Group’s loss will inevitably be our gain.

And by “our” I have in mind the Maltese electorate at large.

These are neither words of flattery or encouragement but a fair assessment about what one should expect from the new Opposition Leader.

It is worth keeping in mind the votes he managed to obtain when elected to serve as an MEP to tell the lie that will surely surface courtesy of The Usual Suspects who will definitely try to imply that he is “stealing” someone’s place without having any electoral backing. His total number of votes exceeds the votes that both the Prime Minister and the former Opposition Leader polled together during the last general elections.

For those who often suffer from deliberate political amnesia it is worth recalling that:

• Eddie Fenech Adami was elected by party nomination after a Nationalist MP elected in a casual election had died in 1969. He only managed to make it on his own steam in the following elections.

• Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici had entered Parliament after the late Paul Xuereb showed true altruism by bequeathing his seat after Paul had himself been returned to Parliament as a result of a casual election

• Alfred Sant had been chosen to enter Parliament following the death of the late colleague of mine, Joseph Sciberras (Ix-Xibby) who had also been elected through a casual election. A friend of mine who had previously proved to be a very effective Parliamentary Secretary.

Joseph’s unilateral decision to take up his seat as Opposition Leader without delay, shows that he has kept his word to move into his new job after seeing to his then as yet unfinished rapporteurship business in Brussels.

Having worked closely with him in recent months I am sure that he will completely ignore all the venom that has been and will no doubt continue to be hurled in his direction. Determined to get on with his job, to make the most and the best of it and not to get politically “derailed.”

I wish him well.

Ambivalent PN reaction

The ambivalent PN reaction to Joseph Muscat’s imminent new role as Opposition Leader can already be detected in the local media.

While his former colleague MEP, David Casa, has commented that many see Joseph Muscat as the answer to end the many years in the wilderness that the MLP has endured as well as that he hopes that Joseph will manage to eradicate old party politics and really open the way for a new political season and start making politics the way Joseph Muscat made it in Brussels, other lesser mortals like a certain Randolph Spiteri who writes regularly in In-Nazzjon and as far as I know also forms part of a ministerial secretariat, commented on the same day that Joseph is an inexperienced politician stuck in the past and clinging to Mintoffian ideology, who in actual fact has so little to offer our younger generation.

Need I add more?

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Leo Brincat is the Main Opposition Spokesperson for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change