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18 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 MARCH 2019 1 March 2009 Dockyard privatisation in serious trouble NONE of the offers that poured in for the sale of the Malta Shipyards and its ancillary facili- ties are deemed to have satisfied government's expectations. The 14 offers, reportedly too low to even consider selling, have effectively stalled the timing for the privatisation pro- cess. The failure to clinch a bidder is a severe blow to the Gonzi administration following intensive efforts to cut down almost the entire workforce there through hefty early retire- ment schemes. Asked to comment about the low offers which government is now not considering, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said: "Government has no comment to make at this stage of the process." The ministry announced with much pomp on 12 February that the privatisation unit had received 14 offers for the privatisation of the shipyards, attracting interest from European and Asian companies. The offers, which were in response to a call for expression of interest, were split over the four areas of the shipyards: namely three offers for Malta Shipbuilding, three for Malta Ship Repair, five for Malta Superyachts, and three for the Manoel Island Yacht Yard. But the offers appear to have failed to inch close to the kind of prices for which govern- ment is expecting to sell off the facilities. Fenech declined to comment when Mal- taToday put it to him that the offers are not being considered. In a bid to shake off any form of commercial interest in the industry, government has paid golden handshakes to 1,567 of the entire ship- yards' workforce – roughly 96% of all workers. The early retirement schemes were criticised by the General Workers Union, who repre- sented the workers at the shipyards. GWU secretary-general Tony Zarb exhorted the workers not to accept the retirement schemes before they knew who the buyer of the ship- yards will be. But Fenech stood by government's stead- fast belief that the Malta Shipyards had to be downsized from 1,600 to 700, if it was to be made more attractive to prospective buyers. Soon after, Alternattiva Demokratika asked European Commissioner for employment and social affairs Vladimir Spidla to investigate the government's call for expression of interest in the shipyards, for allegedly breaching a Euro- pean directive on the transfer of companies and their employees. The directive protects the employment of workers in an undertaking that is subject to a transfer of ownership. Only last week, Fenech said in a statement announcing the 14 offers that "every privatisa- tion process carried out by the government had given positive results because the private sector invested more and created new jobs." But shortly after the early retirement schemes were launched, workers who took up the offer were re-engaged in September 2008 to continue works on the Fairmount Marine contract. MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week The boat has sailed Editorial ''There are many who are not thriving... and the Government calls it a 'problem of its own success'.'' Opposition Leader Adrian Delia addressing the PN General Council THOUGH our political surveys tend to vary in the details over the years, in some respects they have remained consistent throughout. One striking example of this concerns Prime Minister Joseph Muscat's performance in approval ratings: time and again, Muscat emerges as significantly more popular, at grassroots level, than the Labour Party as a whole. While this is excellent news for support- ers of that party in general, it also comes with a faint warning. It suggests that, in the present political climate, the Labour Party owes its current electoral advantage uniquely to the persona of its leader. And Muscat has already (repeatedly) indicated that he has no intention of contesting the next general elec- tion as leader of the Labour Party. What this implies is that – even though unassailable for the present – the Labour Party cannot afford to rest on its laurels. It must start preparing itself for a post-Muscat future from now; and it should surely be a cause for concern for the party as a whole, that its majority hinges so pivotally on a leader who will not be there the day after tomorrow. The same situation also places prospec- tive future Labour leaders in an awkward position. They know they have to start po- sitioning themselves (indeed, it is clear that some have already started) for an inevitable, imminent leadership race: without somehow alienating the core of a voter-base that is clearly enamoured of the man they hope to replace. This should trigger alarm bells also be- cause it evokes the memory of the Labour Party's recent historical troubles. Mintoff's celebrated 1998 'revolt' against Alfred Sant had likewise challenged the average Labour voter's traditional sense of allegiance: forc- ing them to choose between a charismatic, much-loved (by Labour) former leader, against a new leader who represented a very different vision. As history has a tried-and-tested habit of repeating itself, the Labour Party would be wise not to exult too much in the findings of our survey today: though they appear to ce- ment the perception of Labour – and Muscat in particular – enjoying an unassailable lead. But inevitably, the more dire warning is reserved for the Nationalist Party and its current leader, Adrian Delia. On a national level, it emerges that Muscat is trusted by 54.7%, while Delia is trusted by just 16%. If this was not bad enough for Delia, it also transpires that only 38.9% of PN voters in 2017 trust him (significantly, 41% trust no- body at all); while, once again confirming the same trend, Muscat continues to be trusted by 95% of Labour voters. This is a double disadvantage for Delia: for while Muscat grows in popularity, he him- self is clearly sinking. As things stand – and on the basis of these raw figures – only 33% would vote for PN with Delia as its leader, if an election were held now. It would be superfluous to point out that this translates into an enormous – and pos- sibly insurmountable – problem for Delia. Already it is too late to point towards teeth- ing problems as 'new leader': Delia has occu- pied his position for a year and a half – and a lot happened, especially, in the early phases, which inevitably set his leadership on a cer- tain course. The murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, in particular, posed and continues to pose a direct challenge to Delia who remains as- sociated – in the minds of many National- ists – with his earlier (and probably much- regretted) 'bicca blogger' remark. Here, too, the lessons of history should not be ignored. The implications of our lat- est survey must surely be as visible to the PN itself, as they are painstakingly visible to anyone else. The Nationalist Party appears resigned to its fate, as a ship under the command of a captain facing mutiny. It knows – or must know – that Adrian Delia is running a race he cannot possibly win. Indeed, the very aim of 'victory' seems to have already been discarded. When the European Commission predicted that the PN would lose one of its three MEP seats in the May election, general-secretary Clyde Puli made an appeal to voters 'not to let that happen'… as though conscious that it is, de facto, already a foregone conclusion. Once again, this echoes the previous woes of the labour Party, as it spent 15 years struggling to regain its credibility after the 1998 debacle. Like the PN today, Labour resisted the notion of changing the leader, in the face of an unwinnable situation – not even after losing the 2003 referendum and election respectively – and in so doing, merely extended its stay in Opposition by an unnecessary 10 years. Viewed from this angle, the choice be- comes easier for the PN. It must either soldier on under Delia until the inevitable downfall – quite possibly, following next May's election – and then begin the pain- ful job of reconstruction to stand a fighting chance by 2022… or it can choose to begin the process immediately. Clearly, however, the one option that no longer remains is to continue hoping for an impossible turnaround. That boat has sailed.