Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1097443
28.03.19 13 OPINION Kevin-James Fenech Kevin Founder and owner of JOB Search- jobsearch.mt and FENCI Consulting fenci.eu. He is a management consultant and business advisor by profession, focusing on strategy, human resources and recruitment. He has a passion for anything related to business and has written about the topic for over ten years in most major newspapers or journals. Probably, an inspiring quote he lives his life by is: "Listen, smile, agree, and then do whatever you were gonna do anyway". W hen I read about 'Operation Yellowhammer' (Whitehall's contingency plans for a no- deal scenario and crashing out of the Eu- ropean Union), I realised that the situation in the UK really is dire. is unfortunately is what one gets when there is weak lead- ership! May and Corbyn are possibly the worst party leaders in history of British politics and the UK is slowly slowly falling off the proverbial cliff. e whole Brexit saga conjures up feel- ings which a lot of 'EU' citizens can re- late to; the EU is intrinsically imperfect; Brussels is detached from everyone's own national interest; and the entire EU Project is in serious need of a re-think. I also empathise with the Brits; I ad- mire them; more often than not I com- pletely get their point about Europe (economic union vs. political union); but the way PM May has handled this matter is bewildering beyond belief and Jeremy Corbyn's inability to seize the moment and shape the agenda has compounded the problem. e facts are that the original 52% vs. 48% (2016 referendum) has now proba- bly changed to a slight majority in favour of staying in the EU. eresa May has lost parliamentary vote after parliamentary vote and speak- er John Bercow has already said that he would not allow a third 'meaningful vote' on 'substantially the same' motion the house in his majority rejected twice. From my professional experience, when organisations fail it is always down to poor or weak leadership; everything else is secondary. Brexit is a failure of leadership of the highest order. David Cameron was weak to agree to hold a referendum and entered the referendum debate overconfident (he completely underestimated the 'Take back control' sentiment); Theresa May (more technocrat than leader) couldn't / can't lead her cabinet team and can not command a majority in parliament (suffering a devastating defeat in par- liament last January over her Brexit withdrawal deal by by a massive 202 to 432) and keeps hanging on to pow- er even when her position is untenable and in the process is weakening the UK in general. To exacerbate the situation, no one in the UK seems to have a compelling Vi- sion; I mean the UK is in the ridiculous situation of wanting to leave but not knowing what exactly it wants instead of EU membership. We are now witnessing a massive amount of 'unguided confusion' because there is no leadership and no vision. I mean a Customs Union; leave without a deal; soft-Brexit; extension of dead- line, hold another referendum and par- ticipate in the European elections; call a general election; etc. the joke persists like a Carry On film. e irony of it all, is that even when eventually the UK decides what it wants, I still fear that Europe will continue to divide opinion in the UK. inking like a business person, and not a politician, common sense leads me to believe that in, out or half-in / half-out, the EU will continue to affect the British economy and their way of life. e difference will be, if completely out, they will have much less say on EU decision making but the saga will con- tinue. e British tabloids will persist to fuel anti-Brussels fever and the common English layperson will still dislike the EU but globalisation will continue. I say this since what the Brits dislike about the EU (loss of sovereignty, 'for- eigners' taking British jobs, cultural ero- sion, loss of British way of life, etc) will continue since the real catalyst is globali- sation and not necessarily EU member- ship. Anyway, it is done now and the process is irreversible. e UK will disengage from the EU in some shape or form, and the European project will, in my opin- ion, have to take note or other countries will follow suit. My point is that the whole matter was approached badly because there is no leadership or vision in the UK but also in Europe. When an organisation has strong leadership and a compelling vi- sion, people follow, believe and want to be part of the change. Unfortunately, and again I speak as a business person and not a politician, our democratic system is failing us. Every- where we look in Europe there is a fail- ure of leadership and we end up with oversimplified solutions which exacer- bate the situation rather than help it. Classic example being Clinton vs. Trump; we all knew Trump was (is) a loose cannon but the voters in America preferred him to Clinton. is phenom- enon is hitting Europe and politics is paralysed. Malta needs to learn from all this and speed up the process of constitutional re- form. We need a new republic which has in place a democratic system that guaran- tees that the best brains are attracted to politics and leading this country. I intentionally selected 'Never gonna give EU up' as a title because I think the sentiment is the very same sentiment we need here in our little but beautiful is- land. We must watch and learn from Brexit and double (even treble) up our efforts to produce plenty of leaders who have vision for Maltese politics, Maltese busi- ness and Maltese society. 'Never gonna give EU up' When an organisation has strong leadership and a compelling vision, people follow, believe and want to be part of the change Theresa May has lost parliamentary vote after parliamentary vote