Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1457526
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 MARCH 2022 8 INTERVIEW Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt 'Our priorities have changed, Our recent polls suggest that the gap be- tween the two parties has dwindled to around 25,000; and that there is a high- er level of abstention among Labour vot- ers, than Nationalists. Admittedly, other polls suggest differently; but are you concerned that – according to our sur- vey– Labour seems to be losing some of its appeal, among its own voters? As you yourself said, there are differ- ent polls. Your survey says one thing; the surveys of two other newspapers say something else. But I am on the record as having always said the same thing, about polls in general. In my opinion, it is not a good idea to base your future plans on surveys: whether they are good or bad. In fact, my message to supporters in Naxxar, last Sunday, was precisely to not pay any attention to surveys. Because I've never heard of a General Election that was won through polls. At the same time, however, I strongly rebut the narrative that is being pushed about the Labour Party – even by certain newspapers – that this election is a 'foregone conclusion'; or that Labour is – to quote a recent Times editorial – 'unbeatable'. That annoys me a lot, in fact. So let's put things into a little perspec- tive. Until just a few years ago, an election victory of 13,000 votes was considered a 'landslide'. And my own first experi- ence in the counting hall, ended up with chants of 'Spicca il-Labour' [Labour is finished]… because we lost an election by 1,500 votes. This is why I am not impressed with sur- veys indicating that parties are 'unbeata- ble'. I am 36 years old: I spent most of my adult life under a party-in-government which also thought of itself as 'unbeata- ble'. And we all know what happened, in the end. So we cannot allow ourselves to be carried away by empty words: we have the example [of the PN] of what can hap- pen to a party, when it becomes too arro- gant and big-headed. Fair enough, but the Labour Party's campaign is sending out a different message. Yesterday, Prime Minister Ab- ela issued a strong warning against 'vot- er abstention'. Isn't this a confirmation that the PL really is concerned about a degree of voter disengagement? No, I'd say the Prime Minister's appeal yesterday was simply aimed at a younger generation of voters, to 'make their voices heard'. Because there are always trends of abstention, among voters – in any elec- tion, not just this one – and there are always certain patterns that one can ob- serve. For instance: that abstention rates start out high; but begin to stabilize as we draw nearer the election date. So our appeal – especially to younger voters – is to participate in the democrat- ic process. But it's an appeal we always make, before every election: even when the polls show much lower abstention rates, than today. And if, in our case, our appeal is to support the Labour Party: it is because we firmly believe in our own message; we believe in our vision for the country; and we will remain with our feet on the ground, whatever the polls say. Turning to Labour's campaign: Abela claims that the manifesto will contain over '1,000 new ideas'. One he has al- ready revealed concerns a 700 million investment in 'open spaces'. But wasn't this also an electoral pledge made in 2017? And if so: aren't you just promis- ing to fulfil the unkept pledges of yester- year? I don't agree with your interpretation, and I'll tell you why. First of all, let's put things into perspective: in 2017, our top priority, when it came to capital invest- ment, was in infrastructural projects. I think everyone will agree – notwith- standing any reservations about certain projects – that over the past five years, Malta's infrastructure has undergone a revolution, in some aspects. You have to bear in mind where we actually started from. In 2013, this country was incapable of designing even a single traffic junction; we had the only roundabout in the world – the Kappara junction – which had eight sets of traffic lights. Meanwhile, the last time something had been done about the Marsa junction, was a temporary arrangement when Alfred Sant was Prime Minister [1996-98]. But that 'temporary arrangement' soon be- came a permanent one. This is why, in 2017, we had to prioritise a massive up- grade of the Marsa junction, among oth- ers. But today, our priorities have to be dif- ferent; and we will now address environ- mental concerns – especially in urban ar- eas - with the same impetus and urgency. Some of the seven projects we have identified so far – for example, the pedes- trianisation of St Anne's Street, Floriana; and the roofing of the Santa Venera tun- nel – have long been in the public domain. But let's be honest: there are also projects that we define as an 'opportunity-cost'. To mention one example: our proposal to relocate the Hamrun milk factory to an industrial zone, and convert the area – more than 10 tumoli, in the middle of a densely populated town – into a public garden, with underground parking. There were a lot of other options we could have considered, for that site. I don't think there would have been too much controversy, if – having removed a polluting factory from the middle of an urban area – the government decided to make use of the property itself: to rent it out, perhaps; or even to develop it, for fi- nancial gain. But the only option we looked at, as a party, was to convert the area into a pub- lic space, to be enjoyed by everyone. Be- cause let's face it: our environment has been neglected for many, many years… But it shouldn't have been, in the past five years. Labour had promised to make the environment a 'top priority' at the last election, too. And yet, the rate of construction has skyrocketed in this country since 2017. Is this sudden 'green awakening', then, just a belated reali- zation of all the open spaces that have been lost to development? More than 'losing open spaces', what happened in the past five years was that the country's economic rhythm permit- ted certain projects to take place. You know as well as I do, that all the construc- tion going on at the moment – no mat- ter how much of it is criticized – is being done within the parameters of the Local Plan of 2006. Now: what has changed since 2006… and especially, from 2013 onwards? Not the Local Plans themselves – those have remained the same – but the rate at which construction was taking place. And yes, that same economic rhythm has caused, and still causes, a certain ele- ment of inconvenience to the public. But bear in mind that – although government usually gets the blame for all construction projects – most of them are spearheaded by the private sector; building on private- ly-owned land… But even private projects are facilitated by (highly dubious) planning policies: which are drawn up by government it- PL deputy leader DANIEL JOSE MICALLEF rebuts criticism of the 'greenwashing' and 'vote-buying' variety: arguing that Labour's generous campaign promises – on the environment, and elsewhere - are the fruit of its past economic successes