Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1428470
14 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 NOVEMBER 2021 PAUL COCKS A meeting in which the Na- tionalist parliamentary group was finally expected to iron out its position on a cannabis legalisation Bill, was marked by a heated exchange between PN leader Bernard Grech and the veteran MP Mario Galea. Grech has been facing stiff opposition inside the PN not to back Labour's bill, which allows households to grow up to four plants indoors, but also legalises the dispensa- tion of up to a monthly 50g of cannabis per person, from non-profit associations. Grech has already attacked the cannabis legalisation bill as a 'vote-winning' ruse by Labour. But he was faced with calls not to back the Bill again, de- spite the popularity the law might have with younger PN voters. As Grech canvassed the MPs on where they stood on the law, it quickly became apparent he had no support whatsoever from those pres- ent for the meeting. Ryan Callus was one of the few voices calling for support for the bill, having previous- ly also charged some MPs with 'short-sightedness' on the need for reform in drugs policy and the popular sup- port such rules could enjoy. But he did not attend Fri- day's meeting. Likewise, the MPs who could have offered Grech some support – Karl Gouder and Therese Com- modini Cachia – were also absent on Friday. Claudette Buttigieg for ex- ample, was said to have told Grech she would vote with the majority of MPs, showing herself non-committal on the matter. Secretary-general Michael Piccinino, who by right can attend parliamentary group meetings, was present but did not participate in the heated discussion. Former leader Adrian De- lia told Grech that if the PN supports the Bill, it would get none of the credit, since peo- ple would still attribute the reform to the Labour Party. Grech seemed to acknowl- edge his defeat when he did not even call for a vote on the matter but moved to deter- mine how the party should best present its decision. The resulting statement was that the party now "consid- ers the bill proposed by the Government as normalising and aiding in a rise in drug abuse in our country", and that the MPs will not back a bill that favours a "prevalent drug abuse culture" without safeguards for addiction or a strategy against trafficking. "With this bill, the Labour government is turning its back on children and their interests. The Nationalist Party believes that parlia- ment should only legislate to strengthen Maltese society and should never be used by a political party to create a diversion on the eve of a gen- eral election," the PN said in its official statement. Yet even after this resolu- tion, Grech still challenged his MPs about the way de- cisions taken by the parlia- mentary group would be re- flected in polls. "Don't come talking to me about the sur- veys then," one source privy to the proceedings reported Grech as saying. A group of MPs voiced their disagreement at Grech's ac- cusation, but it was Mario Galea, the party's spokesman for mental health and animal welfare, who took most of- fence at Grech's words. "You dare accuse us of be- ing the reason for your poor polling numbers?" Galea was said to have retorted at Grech. "Why don't you ac- knowledge that we are fed up with you coming before us having already made up your mind about things without discussing anything with us?" And Grech apparently rose to the challenge. "If you're fed up, don't come here!" Galea too would not step down. "If anyone should leave, it's you," he told Grech. "After all, I was co-opted here in a fair vote. You are only in your seat by chance and be- cause we put you there!" Other MPs then intervened to calm the two. The sources who spoke to MaltaToday said it was ap- parent that Grech had not yet managed to garner con- sensus on certain issues. "In the case of major party poli- cy as is our position on can- nabis use, it is the executive committee that votes and de- cides, not the parliamentary group," one party official told MaltaToday. "Once a vote is taken in the Executive, the General Council would then be called to vote on the pol- icy." The official thinks Grech should have taken the mat- ter to the PN executive committee, which includes a representation of MPs but not the entire group, before committing the party to a major policy change. "It's not the first time that party structures are bypassed. Grech promises much about what to do if elected to pow- er, but it is the Executive and the General Council that ul- timately approves the elec- toral programme." Another source suggested that Grech's latest recruits to the party had riled the par- ty establishment and back- bench. "Grech or his advisors will be unable to cancel 'tra- dition'... some MPs are fed up of having policies shoved down their throats without proper discussion." pcocks@mediatoday.com.mt MPs give Grech no support to attempt new tack on cannabis law SURVEYS consistently show that the abstention rate in Malta is highest among tertiary-edu- cated, young voters – that same category which in the past en- dured the PN's paleo-conserv- atism in the name of realising Malta's European dream – ac- cession to the EU. Today, tertiary-educated and young voters are also the most likely to support some form of liberalisation of Malta's draco- nian abortion laws. And indeed, only a few days ago it seemed that PN leader Bernard Grech had found a winning formula to keep on board three categories of PN-leaning voters: the 'en- lightened' conservatives, who oppose abortion and legalisation of cannabis but can have an open conversation with their liberal children; middle of the road vot- ers with misgivings on these re- forms but who shun fundamen- talism; and liberals who aspire to the European mainstream. Grech took a courageous stance against the online vilification of PN candidate Emma Portelli Bonnici, who was branded a "sa- tanist, murderer and butcher" by a hysterical priest for expressing pro-choice views, despite hav- ing never questioned her party's stance against abortion. Before that, he had even declared that an upcoming bill on cannabis should tackle the way people purchase the plant through legal means, hinting that he could be in favour of some form of legal- isation. At that stage it looked like Grech had struck a balance. Having first played a part in the anti-divorce campaign in 2011, he offered conservatives a 'guar- antee' that the party's stance against legal abortion would not change with him at the helm. But he still kept himself in a po- sition to open his party to people of different values, without al- ienating reasonable conservative voices. In short, Grech could be the epitome of the 'enlightened conservative', someone capable of engaging with his own par- Abortion and cannabis Grech's farewell to big-tent politics? Will the PN parliamentary group's opposition to cannabis legalisation and Bernard Grech's commitment to exclude pro-choice voices from the party one week after defending one of them from online vilification, further undermine the party's fragile appeal to young voters and graduates? asks James Debono INSIDE THE PN