Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1303831
8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 28 OCTOBER 2020 ANALYSIS JAMES DEBONO IN his first major speech in parliament, Opposition leader Bernard Grech – who so far has been used to debating adversar- ies on Xarabank – failed in generating en- thusiasm and excitement around the new vision he was trying to project for the PN. Instead his speech came across as script- ed, with his delivery being stiff. In this as- pect he even fell short of the bar set by his predecessor who despite lacking in content came across an affable and fiery speaker. Yet among those who patiently kept on following the speech, Grech did suc- cessfully perform on one crucial aspect, that of ditching the perception that he represents continuity with Simon Busut- til's confrontational style. He managed to rip through the Labour government's poor track record on governance, cor- rupt deals and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, without sounding hysterically anti-Labour, as used to be the case with Simon Busuttil. One cannot detect any sign of the "hatred" or entitled arrogance in Grech's speech that has marked previ- ous PN leaders' discourse. The negativity factor True to its playbook, Labour's first re- action deriding Grech's speech as "neg- ative" and "penned by the party's estab- lishment", can be seen as an attempt to distort reality to fit into Labour's tried- and-tested narrative, aimed at exploiting divisions in the PN between supporters of Delia's 'new way' and the old guard. Grech did keep party unity in mind by singling out his predecessor for praise for his legal battle on the Vitals hospitals con- cession. He also came across as hard-hit- ting on the government's refusal to hold a public inquiry on Electrogas, Vitals and the Montenegro wind farm scandal, while offering the Opposition's cooperation on avoiding a negative Moneyval verdict. Grech intelligently presented last week's call for an inquiry on Electrogas as an op- portunity to restore the country's reputa- tion. Yet he did so without sounding out to be one-track-minded, mentioning the word 'corruption' only three times com- pared to mentioning the environment' 57 times, the 'economy 46 times, health 25 times and the pandemic 23 times. Recovery starts from Gozo He performed well in outlining a vision for his party which clearly identified pri- orities like the environment and target groups like Gozitans, albeit one which sounded evasive and fell short of con- crete proposals. His emphasis on Gozo, mentioned 51 times, betrays the strate- gic importance of this district for the PN. This comes across as a clear indication that winning back Gozo is essential for the PN's attempt to reduce the gap in the next election. For example, his stance on the Gozo tunnel – which translates into approving a master plan before taking a decision on the tunnel – comes across as contra- dictory and an attempt to run with the hares while chasing with the hounds. And while repeatedly referring to open spac- es he lost an opportunity to denounce the transfer of Miżieb and l-Aħrax to the hunting confraternity. A government in waiting? MaltaToday's word analysis, show- ing him mentioning the word 'vision' 46 times, confirms that Grech's main aim was to steer his party away from the op- position trenches towards being per- ceived as an alternative government. Significantly in line with other Chris- tian-democratic parties in Germany and Austria, the environment, which he men- tioned 57 times and more than any other issue, seems to have become the key for modernising his party. Yet while com- pared to Labour, Grech is more willing to address land use issues where the greatest economic pressures are felt, and in the ab- sence of concrete proposals, he may well be accused of greenwash. For apart from committing his party not to extend devel- opment zones, neither did he commit his party to change local plans in a way which further restricts development within ex- isting zones. Instead he repeated clichés on 'balance' and a 'win-win scenario' for both construction and the environment. He also put greater emphasis on social issues like poverty and low wages by pos- itively proposing a specialised independ- ent unit made up of experts, advising gov- ernment on how best to tackle poverty. Yet he was short on detail on his party's endorsement of the living wage propos- al, something first proposed in Malta by Joseph Muscat, who then failed to en- act it. For the PN, beefing up the living wage proposal is a unique opportunity to strengthen the party's appeal among working class voters. But to be credible the party can't afford to leave it half- baked. It is also one issue which will test the ability of the party to balance business interests with workers' right in formulat- ing a new social pact. Yet while Grech referred to the need for a new social pact, he evades hard choices between conflicting interests of differ- ent social classes and groups. Moreover, creating an environment where small businesses can thrive while still offering better working conditions represents a challenge for any party aspiring to govern the country. Strong COVID response One notable exception to the deliberate vagueness of Grech's vision was a raft of concrete proposals on tackling the COV- ID-19 pandemic, including a sensible proposal for a supplementary voucher for sanitizers and masks. Grech, who intel- ligently praised the government's initial handling of the crisis, was right in pounc- ing on Abela's mistakes in declaring a premature victory over COVID-19 in summer. Yet Grech, who hinted that he also agreed with the lifting of restrictions after May, was unclear on what he would have done differently except in proposing that all tourists visiting Malta should be fully tested. He also singled out Silvio Parnis, the parliamentary secretary for the elderly who emerged as the weakest link during the COVID-19 emergency, anticipating any move by Abela to replace him in a forthcoming reshuffle. Skirting around migration Grech managed to skirt around the mi- gration issue, failing to recognise that talk on burden sharing is not hampered by Malta's bad reputation but by the unwill- An unimpressive solo act replete with clichés which however outlined a modern, albeit half-baked vision with the environment at its centre. Still, Bernard Grech has given the PN a semblance of a government- in-waiting rather than a belligerent opposition bogged down in the trenches and unable to reach out to M.O.R. voters Bernard Grech's budget speech: