Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1195815
17 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 DECEMBER 2019 INTERVIEW I mentioned that one of my main priorities was to tackle the problem of governance, and strengthen the rule of law in our country. If I am given the confidence of the PL members, we will hold a rule of law conference – inviting the government, the Opposition, political parties, civil society, and representa- tives of the institutions – so that, in the first 100 days of having a new prime minister, we will tackle this problem. We have to find solutions to- gether: this is not something any government can do alone. It has to be the collective ef- fort of the whole country; of a united Maltese people. But we will find solutions, and enact them. Only then can we go to Europe and begin to repair our reputation. I am convinced there will come a time when even the European Parliament will ac- knowledge the work we will have done in the next few months to regain our good name in the world. But the reforms that will have to be undertaken may take a lot longer than a few months. How long can we afford the process to drag out? I think that, at this stage, everybody knows what needs to be done. I believe there is consensus in the country that we cannot procrastinate any further. It is not a question of any 'walk-over' by one side or the other; I think we all recog- nise that our country needs to be seen by the rest of the world for what it really is. We are a good country, made up of generous people. It is not true that we have a culture of 'killing journalists' in Malta. [The murder of Daphne Caru- ana Galizia] was an isolated in- cident. So let us undertake the necessary reforms, so that this isolated incident can never oc- cur again; and moreover, that justice is done, and seen to be done, with all those who were involved in this incident. For this, we need our institu- tions to be at an arm's length from government: through [a revised system of] appoint- ing the judiciary; through the appointment of a new Police Commissioner; through the separation of the Attorney General's role from the Pub- lic Prosecution Office… These are among the things I am pro- posing. You also proposed that the Police Commissioner should be appointed by means of a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Why does this have to wait until a conference is held, and all the discussions take place… which might take up to two years? First of all, for the next two weeks we are still in the lead- ership election campaign. I certainly can't propose some- thing at a time when I'm not the prime minister; nor am I arrogant enough to state that I will be the next prime minister on 12 January. So let us wait for the outcome of the elec- tion first. The starting date will be 12 January; and I am making a commitment that one of my first priorities will be to start building bridges towards all sectors of Maltese society, so that discussions begin as soon as possible. But it won't take one day, or one week. We have three months; which is time enough to take a decision. Nonetheless – without im- posing the guillotine of strict deadlines on the discussion – when decisions need to be taken, they will be taken. My medical career was as a surgeon: when I see the need to make an incision, I make an incision. I don't keep mulling over it indefinitely… The same proposal had been made by the Nationalist Party when still under Simon Busuttil. But your government, which you were part of, had shot it down… You are confirming that the Opposition, though we haven't even spoken about it yet, is al- ready on board. So half the so- lution is already found… But what led to Labour's U-turn? It's not a question of 'U-turn'. If we keep on stamping our feet and digging our heels… if we insist that, because when we said something once, we have to stick to that something forever… we will never reach our destination. Now is a time for national unity. It is a time to gather round a table and reach an agreement. There have been protests in the street; those protests were not held for nothing. We listened to the message. Now, let's find a solution. This is not a time for arrogant stubborness. Now is a time for unity and recon- ciliation… You also mentioned the need to increase resources to institutions like the Police Force. Is it just about resources, though? The police can have all the resources in the world, but if they are reluctant to investigate people close to the corridors in power, it will be for nothing. There is also the question of political will. How do you intend to address this aspect? With all due respect, I am here as a candidate for the Labour party leadership, and therefore also as a candidate for prime minister. So if am making this proposal as a pro- spective new prime minister… the political will is already there. What more political will can there be, than the fact that a prospective prime minister is saying it? Should the police proceed against Keith Schembri? The police should do its work with everyone equally, with no exceptions. If there are allega- tions against Adrian Delia, for instance, the police should in- vestigate Adrian Delia, too. I have no problem with that; on the contrary, I insist – in as far as it is a prime minister's place to insist, as happens anywhere in the democratic world – that the police does not make any distinction on the basis of identity. Yet that is precisely the problem that has developed in recent years: the so- called 'culture of impunity', whereby action is not always taken against everybody equally… But that is wrong. I believe that the office of the Prime Minister should not be an in- vestigative office. That's the job of the police, and other institutions such as the judici- ary. The job of government is to provide resources, and to see that there the necessary structures in place – through reforms, if necessary – to en- sure that there isn't even the possibility of political interfer- ence. Another of your proposals is to abolish the position of a prime minister's chief-of- staff; but in practical terms, the role is necessary in any government. Someone has to do the work. So is this just a cosmetic proposal? Yes, I am making that pro- posal: primarily, to send out a clear political message that the seat of power in this coun- try has to be in the hands of someone democratically elect- ed. We are a parliamentary de- mocracy, after all. But over the years – not just today, under Joseph Muscat: it goes back at least to Eddie Fenech Adami, and carried on under Lawrence Gonzi – to get something done in the country, there was always someone you had to go to. It wasn't always as behind-the- scenes as it later became; there were times it was completely in the open. But it was always there. I want to avoid that situa- tion as much as possible. As a surgeon who spent 25 years operating… I want to make my own decisions at the operating table. The consequences will be suffered or enjoyed by the patient; and I will face the full responsibility. I would be the same as prime minister. My decisions will be my own. This doesn't mean that, as prime minister, I or anyone else would be infallible. We must see to it that there are counsellors capable of giving the right advice in any situa- tion. But what I don't want is to have only one single man, who wields all the power, and through whom everything has to pass. This was the case under Ed- die Fenech Adami, Lawrence Gonzi, and… yes, under Jo- seph Muscat, too. usual' Photo by JAMES BIANCHI