Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1464183
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 APRIL 2022 OPINION 11 be fair, I can certainly think of worse candidates for the role of 'PN-Saviours', than Roberta Metsola – but even in becoming PN leader at all? Here, at least, some of those prayers can be answered, in a manner of speaking. Pierre Portelli, for instance, suggests that the reason for all this 'faith' in Roberta Metsola, is that "her hard-earned success [in Europe] will shine back on the PN." OK, I'll close an eye at that rather overtly Biblical phrasing (honestly, though: that's right up there with '2 Corinthians 4:6'); because, as with those wartime prayers, there is at least a certain logic to this assumption. As it happens, I agree that Roberta Metsola's European experience should place her in a unique position to 'save the PN' (by which I take to mean: 'Resolve, once and for all, the ongoing internal disputes that have torn that party to piec- es'). For how does one achieve success in European politics – and especially in the European Parliament – if not by forging alliances between different po- litical 'groupings'? Replace 'groupings' with 'fac- tions', and… there you have it, I suppose. You can't really argue against Roberta Metsola's cre- dentials – on paper, at least – as a 'builder-of-bridges' between hostile political forces. As with all assumptions, how- ever: it overlooks the rest of the context entirely. In particular, that Roberta Metsola herself had been very much involved in all those internal disputes… to the extent that she was even named among the original '17 Blue Heroes', in that other cringe-worthy Facebook update from 2020 (though to be fair, that was an epithet given to her by Jason Azzopardi; and, well, just look what happened to him in the last election…) Which of course brings me to the one factor that ALL the above assumptions seem (as usual) to be ignoring. If we are talking about a possible con- tender for the future leadership of the Nationalist Party… then we clearly have to look at things from the perspective of the only people who will actually be tak- ing that decision. And looking at it purely from the PN General Council's point of view… after an election result which (no matter how much online whining takes place in the background) clearly indi- cated that: a) Adrian Delia's support-base was much larger than any of us had anticipated, and; b) It roundly rejected not just the 'Blue Heroes', but the en- tire Nationalist Party establish- ment/old guard (call it what you will), lock, stock, and two smok- in' barrels… Not to mention, after the same Roberta Metsola must have ab- solutely HORRIFIED the PN's entire grassroots, by signing the detested Simone Veil Pact (you know: the one which calls for 'abortion to be recognized as a fundamental human right, in every European Union member state', etc., etc.…) Put it all altogether, and… well, something tells me that Roberta Metsola might actually struggle (and probably quite a bit, too) to achieve the same sort of success within the PN, as within the Eu- ropean Parliament. But the biggest drawback by far has nothing to do with Roberta Metsola herself at all. It's more that… well, it takes us right back to those wartime shelters, doesn't it? You know: when there was literally nothing you could possibly do… except 'hope, and pray'. With the small difference, however, that the situation fac- ing the PN today is nowhere near as 'desperate' as the sit- uation facing Malta in 1942. Certainly, there are all sorts of things that the Nationalist Par- ty COULD be doing – yes, even now: at this late hour - to try and 'save itself'… if nothing else, because (and if I'm not mistak- en, this really is a Catholic 'Ar- ticle of Faith') 'God helps those, who help themselves'. Translated from Bible-speak, it simply means that… if you re- ally want to 'save' the National- ist Party: you have to do some- thing about it NOW. You can't afford to sit back, and wait… and 'hope', and 'pray'… for the future arrival of a 'Messiah'. Because otherwise… well, do I even need to spell it out? There won't be much of a Nationalist Party left for even God to save (let alone Roberta Metsola)… Robert Arrigo … if you really want to 'save' the Nationalist Party: you have to do something about it NOW. You can't afford to sit back, and wait… and 'hope', and 'pray'… for the future arrival of a 'Messiah'