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6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 FEBRUARY 2020 NEWS ANALYSIS A breakdown of Robert Abela's speech into elements of continu- ity and change suggests that the Labour leader is still threading carefully between his pre-election promise of continuity and the readiness to implement change as displayed in some of his first decisions – an approach which reflects his strong standing in the polls, showing him retaining over 90% of Labour voters despite mis- givings on the first steps to reach out to Labour critics, while at the same time emerging as a more trusted leader among 23% of PN voters, in recognition of these in- itial indications of change. Lasr Sunday, Robert Abela de- livered a solid, sober and for- ward-looking speech that gives the Labour party a sense of di- rection; building on the achieve- ments of the past seven years in sectors like civil liberties and equality while hinting at a change in priorities on themes like the environment, housing and good governance. But while promising zero-toler- ance on abuse on his watch, Ab- ela failed to look back at recent events which shook the party to the core. He made no reference to the Vitals hospitals scandal, Pan- amagate or Keith Schembri's possible involvement in an ob- struction of justice concerning the investigation into the assassi- nation of Daphne Caruana Gali- zia. I t was deputy leader Chris Fearne, Abela's owne rival in the leadership contest, who in his own speech obscurely referred to projects which "however big may have to be stopped" – in what could have been an allusion to the privatisation of public hospitals. But even when it comes to style, he still lacks his predecessor's ability to close in on the one sin- gle message he wants relayed in the media sphere – perhaps a humble and appropriate style for the post-Muscat era. Continuity for the grassroots In his speech Abela emphasised several aspects making continui- ty both with Labour history and the Muscat era, ranging from the defence of the national interest to reaffirming the commitment for civil liberties. Despite growing lingering questions on Muscat's relationship with Keith Schembri – a person of interest in investi- gations related to Daphne Caru- ana Galizia's assassination – Ab- ela still thanked Joseph Muscat while speaking on his party's love for the country. Still, even when outlining continuity, Abela also shows signs of change. 'Malta first and foremost' Abela included national pride as one of the defining characteristic of his party. He even reiterated Mintoff's Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox (Malta first and foremost) battle-cry which he twinned with Muscat's more inclusive but rare- ly practiced 'Malta taghna lkoll' (Malta that belongs to all) mantra. He contrasted this with the neg- ativity of the opposition, particu- larly of its two MEPs who had re- fused to meet him in the company of Labour MEPs. But Abela hinted at a change in attitude, affirming his readiness to "engage in dia- logue with our greatest critics" on the international stage, and vague- ly recognising that he needed to restore the country's reputation. Labour as the reformist party Abela seems keen on retaining his party's edge as a more socially liberal party, affirming its reform- ist legacy in matters like equal marriage which turned Malta in- to a "beacon of hope". But except for hinting at further changes to the IVF law to make it easier for parents to have chil- dren, he was short on detail. He made no reference to the legalisa- tion of cannabis or decriminalis- ing sex work, a position on which the party is committed to debate in its electoral manifesto. Abortion, which he has already excluded, obviously remains off the table. But Abela's condem- nation of how former Nation- alist governments "used to im- pose their conservative views on everyone preventing people from making their own choices" could also apply to the abortion debate. Abela also reiterated Muscat's commitment to increase wom- en's participation in parliament. An open party Abela commended the PL's transformation under Muscat into a movement that ditched its siege mentality and opened its doors, but acknowledged the anxiety this had caused to long- time activists and supporters. Abela's greatest shortcoming in this aspect is his failure to distin- guish between newcomers who joined Labour to help it change the country for the better, and those who wanted to further their personal or business interests. On the plus side, Abela seems keener on listening to criticism from his own party. The conference itself was ad- dressed by Desiree Attard, a crit- ical voice on the left of the party who never shied away from voic- ing her concerns on environmen- tal degradation. Even on Sunday she insisted on the importance of internal criticism, arguing that it was the intolerance to such crit- icism which led to the PN's de- mise. Moreover in the absence of the Nationalist opposition, "we have to be the opposition for our- selves," Attard said. Robert Abela threads carefully between continuity and change when addressing Labour delegates at his first general conference since his election. But how far can he deliver change when he still seems reluctant on even mentioning what has gone wrong in the past years? JAMES DEBONO asks Abela's tightrope walk between Labour general conference