I remember Louis Galea as president of the Students’ Representative Council and as the organizer of the March for Better Housing around 1968 (I also remember him at the Minor Seminary but that is prehistory).

I took part in that march and remember Alex Sceberras Trigona just behind me, holding a placard and waving it enthusiastically in the direction of a giant poster of an Italian actress on the Savoy façade.

That protest was a significant; one of the early signs that the population was becoming restive. It was one that went beyond the usual Labour versus Nationalists scuffles.

At that point, Louis was still apolitical. It was only later, after he graduated as a lawyer, that he joined the Nationalists and became the part’s secretary general. As such, he joined the Eddie, Guido, Censu and Ugo collective leadership through the 1976-1981 and 1981-1987 legislatures leading up to the PN victory in May 1987.

The five had very different characters but Eddie’s leadership brought them all together as a team with any personality clashes pushed far to the background. Being on the social-democrat side of the PN, he was made Minister for Social Policy after the 1987 election victory. In 1992, he became Minister for Home Affairs. Then he became Minister for Education both before and after the 2003 election.

In all his ministerial posts, he characteristically created superstructures of boards and committees, some of which survive to this day. Nevertheless, he also had to face allegations of corruption, most notably the AWTS case. Maybe this was why he was unseated (by Franco Debono) in the March 2008 election.

Since then, he has conducted himself honourably both as a Speaker and as a member of the European Court of auditors.

Now he has been brought out of semi-retirement to try and mediate between the warring factions in the PN. It would seem he has been summoned by the Adrian Delia faction.

Delia, one must remember, is the target of a motion, supported by over 200 general council members, to render an account of his leadership before the May European Parliament election. This was meant to be discussed at a forthcoming extraordinary general council on 27 July but the proponents have since said their motion has been watered down and altered beyond recognition. The Delia faction has also collected signatures for a counter-motion. Delia himself has said he fears the council will become a televised clash of mammoth proportions.

Then Louis Galea was plucked out of a hat and appointed head of AZAD and mediator-in-general.

There is no structure that I can discern that can cope with the mess the party is in. With the departure of Pierre Portelli, even the party media is headless – and it shows. The party’s other structures lurch from leak to leak and the different party bodies go their own separate ways. One half (or so) of the party is hell-bent on kicking the other half out.

What can a person, even one with Louis Galea’s charisma, do in the circumstances, when he has been away from the party for 10 years? And when he has been appointed, for reasons that are not entirely clear, by one side and not the other?

The sides of the party have stopped talking to each other like the MEP candidate who carried testimonials by all the previous leaders but not by the current one.

Roll on 27 July – the hour of truth is fast approaching.

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