Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1116643
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 MAY 2019 9 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: MATTHEW VELLA DEPUTY EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 • Fax: (356) 21 385075 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt Mikiel Galea AT a PN campaign event on Sunday, Opposition leader Dr Adrian Delia de- scribed next week's European elections as a "referendum on abortion". It is perhaps to be expected that the Nationalist Party leader would resort to playing this card. This is, after all, not the first time that the PN has resorted to scaremongering on abortion during election time. In the first European Parliament elec- tion in 2004, the PN had tried using the abortion scare against Alternative Demokratika. At a time when Arnold Cassola was polling well, then PN leader Lawrence Gonzi tried to stymie the Greens by associating Cassola's position, as secretary of the European Greens, with the pro-choice leanings of that political grouping. This view did not take into considera- tion the fact that AD – despite being a Green Party – had since its inception been opposed to the introduction of abortion. Cassola himself has consistent- ly reiterated his personal pro-life stance – which has, more recently, resulted in a fall-out with AD over the same issue. It was clear from the outset, then, that the abortion smear did not reflect a genuine concern; on the contrary, it was a rather transparent attempt at ascribing 'guilt through association'. Of course, that attempt failed. People saw through the scare tactic and Cassola went on to poll more than 20,000 votes: AD's best-ever performance, and pos- sibly the best performance of any candi- date, outside the two-party circuit, since Independence. This time around, Adrian Delia ap- pears to be sticking to the same script of rolling out abortion to hit at Labour. Once again, the emphasis is on associat- ing the Labour Party with the position of the European Socialist and Democrats. Delia warned that voting for PL pro- spective europarliamentarians would be akin to voting in favour of the Party of European Socialists' (PES) manifesto in favour of the deliberate early termina- tion of pregnancy. "The European Socialists' manifesto wants to impose abortion. […] It will be PN MEP candidates in Europe who defend the right to life against those who want to impose abortion on us, and who will fight against a common tax system which destroys jobs and investment," he said. As with AD in 2004, there is every reason to believe that this campaign strategy is not motivated by a genuine concern with abortion. Labour has also made its pro-life position painstakingly clear; and just like the PN on other is- sues, its affiliation with the PES does not oblige the party to adopt all that group- ing's policy stances. Significantly, even Malta's non- political pro-life lobby seems to have seen through the stratagem. Comment- ing on this newspaper's portal, Gift of Life chairman Paul Vincenti noted that: "The PN is not being wise, and they are indeed using a very complex and sensi- tive issue to gain some political mile- age. I don't see that pro-life people will connect with the abortion/EU elections cry. I would suggest they find a better way to win the minds and the trust of voters." This fact alone should alert the Op- position leader to the short-sightedness of his approach. On another level, by making abortion his party's campaign rallying cry, Delia is not only being disingenuous, but also signalling panic within the Nationalist camp. His alarmism over abortion comes across as shrill, especially when one con- siders that his fundamental argument – that "every vote for candidates of the Maltese Socialist Party in the European elections bring Malta one step closer to introducing abortion" – flies in the face of all the known facts. Delia knows, just as well as any other lawyer conversant in EU law, that abor- tion can never be imposed on Malta by Brussels. Abortion does not fall within the competences of the EU, and to change this would require changing the treaties: something that is not on the cards. Even in that remote possibility that abortion may one day be included as an EU competence, the Eddie Fenech Ada- mi administration negotiated a protocol to be annexed to the 2004 accession treaty, making it amply clear that this would not apply to Malta. From this perspective, to cling to a failed, discredited strategy also indicates an inability to fight this election cam- paign on any other issues. It betrays the weakness of a leadership that has no real vision for a new, invigorated PN; and that is also hampered by party infight- ing, and heading towards certain defeat at the polls. But Delia soldiers on regardless. To be fair, it may be a tactic aimed at galva- nising the PN grassroots, who may feel compelled to stay at home on Election Day; but it certainly is not a tactic that will work to bring the lost sheep back to the fold. Ultimately, Adrian Delia is simply tagging on to a phantom issue. He has resorted to the ultimate scare tactic, like Gonzi did in 2004, in a bid to stir the pot. But his tactic will fail. Abortion will only be introduced in Malta if people will it, and if the Maltese parliament votes for it. To argue other- wise is to ignore reality, and show signs of panic. It is the strategy of someone who is fighting a war for his own, and his party's, political survival. Overplaying the abortion card