Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1356256
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 MARCH 2021 INTERVIEW protect criminals' concerning Presidential pardons to be discussed… they will be discussed at Cabinet level. But as President of the Labour Party, I can safely say I have the peace of mind that – for the first time in the history of our country – we are actually getting results from this kind of investigation. Things are moving forward. The case is on its way to being solved. And I hope it is solved, sooner rather than later; and that all the guilty parties are brought to jus- tice. Because as I said before… the Labour Party does not pro- tect criminals. Nonetheless, our surveys had already started registering a decline in support for Labour, even before these latest reve- lations; and this might suggest that the Joseph Muscat brand has now been irreparably dam- aged. Do you think it's possible for Labour to retain its electoral advantage, without also dis- tancing itself from the Muscat legacy? Let's start with the surveys, be- fore going on to the issue of elec- toral support. As we all know: there are surveys, and surveys. There was the survey of Malt- aToday; another by It-Torċa… and what they both suggest is that the Labour Party is, in fact, still very strong. So if Bernard Grech is content with having the same trust rating as Simon Busuttil. In 2017… well, what can I say? We're content with that, too. So everyone is happy… But let's not lose sight of reali- ty. At the end of the day, the on- ly truly important survey is what the people out there are really feeling. Because in a survey, you can get people saying they're 'go- ing to vote Labour' in the next election – or in every election, for that matter – but it doesn't mean they won't also be hurt by certain decisions taken by the Labour government. It doesn't mean that they don't also want us to improve in certain areas. That is why we have to main- tain our contact with the peo- ple. We must be humble; and where mistakes were made… yes, certainly they must be cor- rected. And if the party needs to reform or restructure – as it is, in fact, in the process of doing – then yes, the process has to continue. Ultimately however, what re- ally counts is how people feel in their own homes. And right now, people are concerned by other things apart from what you've been mentioning. There are people who are struggling to cope with rental costs. There are people whose businesses – hairdressers, restaurants, shops – have been forced to close be- cause of COVID-19. And yes, they're angry. Of course they are; of course some of those peo- ple feel they've been treated un- fairly… But it is our job, a party, to lis- ten to those concerns, and do what we can to provide solu- tions to their problems. Are we doing that perfectly? No, obvi- ously not. There is a lot of room for improvement. God forbid I were to say otherwise, because it would mean that my place is clearly not in politics. But I also feel that a majori- ty continues to believe that the Labour Party is, in fact, the only one capable of offering solutions to those problems, and that can really turn those challenges into opportunities… And yet, the details now emerging from court appear to contradict that very belief. Keith Schembri, for instance, is accused of paying 5.5 mil- lion euros in bribes. He is also implicated in other corruption scandals, involving much larg- er sums of money. Rather than 'solving people's problems', then, it seems that Labour gov- ernment officials were becom- ing multi-millionaires at the people's expense. Isn't there some truth, then, to the percep- tion that the Labour Party has lost its Socialist soul? As far as I can see, the charges in that particular case concern a business transaction between two private entities – which started under a Nationalist gov- ernment, and continued under Labour. Just to put things into their proper perspective. But I can't comment much about an ongoing court-case… other than to say that it is now up to the law-courts to eventu- ally reach a verdict, on the basis of all the evidence, once the due process in completed. I can, however, say quite a lot about the Labour Party's social conscience. The people know that Labour has a social conscience… not be- cause of any details from a court case, but because we lowered the cost of water and electrici- ty; because we introduced free childcare centres; because we in- creased pensions, and children's allowance… and the people know this. They can see the dif- ference between the two parties, on issues of social policy. So no matter how much criti- cism is thrown at us – and peo- ple have every right to criticize – everybody knows that the La- bour government did not leave the National Exchequer empty. So when it came to our moment of greatest need: the government found it had strong, healthy fi- nances to resort to. And what did it resort to that money for? To make itself rich? No: it was to issue wage-supple- ments; to finance the voucher system, and give a much-needed push to the economy. All this, in stark contrast to how the pre- vious [Nationalist] government had acted, when there was a re- cession. Does this mean we can't be criticized on other things? No, of course it doesn't. But no mat- ter how much we get criticized: what I can say, hand on heart, is that the Labour government has always remained consistent with its Socialist ethos. That very question has mean- while been raised in this week's European Parliamentary de- bates: which featured calls (coming from the EPP) for the Party of European Socialists to dissociate itself from the Mal- ta Labour Party. As President of that party… how do you re- spond to those calls? Those calls were actually made by two vice-presidents of the EPP: both personal friends of Si- mon Busuttil, Roberta Metsola, and David Casa. And as far as I can see, they remained at the level of 'calls made by the EPP'. They were not followed up on; there was no discussion about it afterwards. On the contrary: I take note of the fact that the PES President – far from 'distancing the PES from the Malta Labour Party' - praised the efforts that are being done to strengthen institutions, under Prime Minister Robert Abela. But for what it's worth, this is how I interpret it myself. For some reason, the Nationalist MEPs chose to have this discus- sion, precisely at a time when we are already in the process of re- forming national institutions – and that's fine: they can discuss as much as they like. But what actually happened is that, instead of discussing the real issues affecting our nation- al institutions… it ended up be- coming a political football. Clearly, then, these people are motivated by party-politics… not by any real concern for Mal- ta and its institutions. And what it also means is that the ones who are setting the agenda for the EPP – i.e., Simon Busuttil, Roberta Metsola and David Ca- sa – are not really interested in 'truth', or 'justice', or anything like that. They are only con- cerned with exploiting the issue for political mileage. And yet, they should know by now that the people are tired of all these political games. They don't like seeing their coun- try's name dragged through the muck, out of sheer political op- portunism. And this has been reflected in one election result, after another, after another. So the Nationalists should have realised this by now. But it seems that they just never learn…