Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/416739
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 2014 News 11 are also located on public land. Per- haps the PN would be more credible by leading by example, either by re- nouncing to these properties or by paying a fair rent. But de Marco's attempt to rise above the fray by looking at issues overlooked in the partisan contest, comes at a moment when his party seems to be rushing in pouncing on the Labour government before completing the process of internal reforms. This may well be the case of starting to run before learning to walk. The PN's overdrive Surely one understands the sense of urgency felt by a party which lost two consecutive elections by a wide mar- gin, which is keen on exploiting the first cracks in the consensus enjoyed by government, but the trick for any opposition is to do this elegantly without sounding desperate. MaltaToday's latest "rate the min- ister" surveys have exposed the first signs of difficulties for the govern- ment with prominent members of the Cabinet like Konrad Mizzi, Joe Mizzi, Manwel Mallia and Edward Scicluna losing points with the pub- lic. Moreover the admission that the government will not be honouring a self-imposed deadline on complet- ing the power station has damaged its credibility. But while Muscat has seen his rat- ings as PM decline from 58% in April 2013 to 45% now, he still leads Simon Busuttil by 14 points. The plain truth is that while people are quick to lose faith in individual ministers it takes time for people to change their allegiance and to re- nounce the trust they have invested in a newly elected Prime Minister. Surely the Opposition has come back from the summer lull with a clear strategy to rock the boat, something which may be good for a healthy democracy if it translates into vigilant scrutiny of govern- ment and the presentation of policy alternatives. But it would backfire if it translates into a daily ritual of pouncing on a particular minister. While Busuttil has left a positive impression through a landmark speech in his party's convention, in the past weeks the party has gone in- to an overdrive of criticism, which is sometimes based on statistical half- truths which when exposed, tend to weaken all legitimate criticism. The PN has also to wake up to the reality that just as voters do not ex- pect the PL to behave in the same way as the PN in government, they do not expect the PN to behave in the same way as the PL behaved in opposition. PN voters who detested Labour's antics in Opposition may not feel comfortable with their party going down the same path. For example, while it is true that the national debt has increased in 2013 by €370 million, it was during the first quarter, which included 64 days of PN administration that debt increased by €300 million over the previous year. And while there has been an increase in public sector employment, this also includes the former Arriva drivers, something the PN seems too willing to ignore. A negative Opposition? Contrary to the impression given by government, Simon Busuttil has sent some conciliatory messages over the past months, leading his party in a historical first vote for a President hailing from the opposing camp and voting in favour of most legislation presented in parliament, including that on party financing. Yet while sending these messages Busuttil retains a hawkish posture and a partisan frame of mind which makes it very hard for him to reach out to the other side. This could be more a question of style than content. For example, he speaks of keeping President Marie Louise Coliero Preca 'on probation' rather than embracing her presiden- cy and find common ground with her on issues like migration, where the President has defied xenophobic currents in her own party. Moreover, while scrutiny of the Opposition is an essential part of de- mocracy, by resorting to daily press conference pouncing on government rather than proposing alternatives, the PN risks an overkill rather than being selective and using its ammu- nition strategically. The PN thus risks appearing too confrontational, giving credence to the government spin that the oppo- sition is negative. The risk is that as happened on the citizenship issue, the Opposition's intransigence may well serve to help Labour close ranks rather than boil in its own contradic- tions. On the other hand one of the posi- tive developments within the PN was the appointment of policy-making groups chaired by academics and ex- perts not directly associated with the PN. Hopefully this will translate in some real debate within party struc- tures. As regards economics, the PN has only made two economic proposals which seem to contradict each other in spirit, a populist proposal for a tax cut to compensate for the low 58 cents wage increase and a more responsible proposal to introduce an obligatory second pillar pension scheme. This contrasts with Busuttil's earli- er attempt to defuse political tension by unilaterally putting an end to the "Sunday sermons", which gave an in- dication that the party was intent on giving society a deserved break from partisan politics. Finding the right balance is prov- ing to be an uphill task for Busuttil, especially in view of his choice of battlecry on nepotism, which may be too close to call for a party which dis- pensed patronage for 25 years. One of the risks is that the party is simply tapping into the sentiment of its own core vote, which feels robbed by vulgar upstarts of their assumed natural right to govern. While some of Labour's appointments like that of Sai Mizzi as a Malta Enterprise En- voy have crossed a line of common decency, middle of the road voters may recoil at seeing the pot calling the kettle black. Busuttil seems bent on carrying out party reform concurrently with in- creased antagonism against govern- ment. But while this strategy might be essential to galvanise the party's grassroots into action, the increased dose of partisanship could be off- putting to the middle-of-the-road voters it wants to reach. Moreover with Muscat keen on retaining switchers by outdoing the PN in its appeal to the upper middle- class, discontentment is more likely to rise among traditional Labour voters, a category which remains alien to Busuttil. Neither does his party emphasise issues like precari- ous jobs and social policy. Busuttil's more restricted appeal to middle- class voters may be the reason why aping Muscat's presidentialism may well not be the perfect recipe, and why the PN needs Busuttil to be flanked by the more populist Beppe Fenech Adami and the more liberal Mario de Marco. Belittling Simon Labour's reaction to the Opposi- tion's attempt to rise up from the ashes is that of constantly belittling Simon Busuttil. In so doing Labour may be adopting a similar strategy to that of Mintoff with regard to Ed- die Fenech Adami in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the PN leader was depicted as a toddler in Labour oriented newspapers. To some ex- tent this tactic is also reminiscent of the dismissive way the PN's propa- ganda machine treated Sant before his surprise 1996 election victory. Labour's deliberate strategy of questioning Busuttil's knowledge of economics and to depict him as an ignoramus exposes a streak of arro- gance, which may be going too far. But Labour's greatest strategic er- ror may well have been its deliberate strategy of absolving its own lack of transparency such as in its failure to publish the contract with Henley by turning the tables on the Nationalist party's record in office. This strategy may damage the Opposition but it also damages the people's faith in democratic institutions. So far the greatest strength of the government has been Muscat's flex- ibility and his willingness to with- draw whenever he feels cornered as he did when he abandoned plans to postpone next year's local elections to 2019 and when he succumbed to EU pressure to introduce a residency clause in the Individual Investor Pro- gramme. Yet while on these issues Muscat was in full control, he may lack the same flexibility when dealing with strong private interests in the energy sector or with the new private public transport operators. But the greatest risk for Labour is that it has become completely de- pendent on Muscat's credibility. If this credibility is dented, the entire edifice will fall. The relegation of the party to a cheerleading role could ul- timately weaken its hegemony in so- ciety. This is why the party needs the contribution of people of the same stature of Evarist Bartolo. The PN may be aware of this and may be rushing to deal its blows in a moment of the PL's present weak- ness. But in so doing it could be underestimating Muscat's ability to turn the tables on it. Muscat must be wary of his standing among tra- ditional Labour voters who might become increasingly uncomfortable with a PM who spends time selling citizenship in Singapore while basic services like public transport con- tinue to deteriorate. Moreover, will the Labour Party act as a counterweight to the tech- nocratic and pro-business bias of a large part of Muscat's Cabinet? The appeal by left-wing academics call- ing on Labour to come to terms with its own history as a party, whose raison d'etre is the emancipation of the working class, could not be timelier and deserves a response by the party. One advantage for Mus- cat is that he faces little competition on his left flank, unless Alternattiva Demokratika reinvents itself to fill this vacuum. The PN has also to wake up to the reality that just as voters do not expect the PL to behave in the same way as the PN in government, they do not expect the PN to behave in the same way as the PL behaved in opposition Even in his attack on Labour over its properties taken from private owners or sited on public land, de Marco was keener on presenting a moral and principled argument Simon Busuttil – risks appearing too confrontational Evarist Bartolo: the PL needs the contribution of people of his stature