Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1260266
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 JUNE 2020 NEWS ANALYSIS PN statute: Weaker leader, Statute changes defining the PN's identity give the party a template from which it can start building a wider coalition across the centre-ground of the political spectrum. However, it also leaves many other questions including the leadership one unresolved JAMES DEBONO DRAFT statute changes defining the Nationalist Party's identity have dispelled fears of the party succumbing to the temptation of reinventing itself on conserv- ative or more xenophobic lines, as suggested by statements by leader Adrian Delia himself and some of his closest allies over the past two years. In fact, the party emerging from the reform is more akin to grandee Louis Galea's idea of what the PN stands for than to Delia's. Yet the reform process has been conditioned by a refusal to enshrine visible, striking and substantial change like ditch- ing the anachronism of call- ing the party 'Nationalist' – a term now only used by the far right. The refusal to change the name falls short of a fresh start, which may have at least stirred a public debate. Not so slick Instead, the party is going half-way by introducing the term National People's Party, already a compromise solution, in the English translation and retaining Partit Nazzjonalis- ta in the Maltese version. The result is that in an age where parties are expected to be slick, the Party has ended up with a long-winded, chunky name – Partit Nazzjonalista – Partit Nazzjonali tal-Poplu. A sim- ple Partit Popolari would have sounded better, in terms of both effective communication and to signal a departure from an irrelevant past held dear by a declining cohort of elderly voters. In many ways, this weakens the reform project as it gives the impression that despite the scale of defeat and its displace- ment by Labour as Malta's largest centrist party, the PN remains attached to anachro- nisms. Still as a consolation for re- formers, the fascist sounding 'religio et patria' motto which was resurrected in Adrian De- lia's inaugural speech at the granaries in 2017, is now being ditched but only to be substi- tuted by the bland 'at your ser- vice', reminiscent of some re- tail or catering establishment's slogan. However, to avert the risk of the motto being misinterpret- ed in a society where patronage remains rife, it is also qualified by an affirmation that party members are expected to be of service to the common good. The only sure thing is that at a discursive level, the proposed change represents continuity with the changes enacted in the 1970s rather than a leap back to the 1920s. In fact, most of the wording in the party's mis- sion statement has not changed much. Reneging an archaic past Those who hoped the party would define itself in a reac- tionary way to uphold tradi- tional values threatened by La- bour's social liberal positions have reason to be disappointed – except for one significant to- ken. With the party's statute com- mitting it to "ensure safeguard- ing the health and quality of life of everyone from the mo- ment of conception" it seems the PN permanently excludes pro-choice advocates from supporting it. This short-sight- edness may well return to haunt the party once the abor- tion debate starts taking the same trajectory as the divorce campaign of 2011. Despite this significant token, traditional values or references to national interest or identity do not even feature in the par- ty's statement of identity. Nei- ther has the party embraced a pro-business identity to the detriment of its commitment for inclusion and social justice. Absent from the party's new vision is any reference to the free market, privatizations and economic liberalism which to a certain extent characterized the party's more recent terms in office, especially in Gonzi era. The appeal to the new Malta The greatest limitation in the party's new mission statement is that it fails to recognize that Labour now occupies the same national popular ideological terrain once occupied by the PN, in a way which makes it more vital for the PN to carve its own niche and reach out to socially progressive voters in- creasingly appalled by Labour in government but which still dismiss the PN as a mediocre Adrian Delia