Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/691413
14 MALTA'S political family has just experienced the live birth of its newest member: the orange- clad 'Partit Demokratiku'. As with similar experiences among real families, it is a joyous occasion for the handful of individuals who 'laboured' to bring it into being… and also for the small but signifi- cant following it already seems to have attracted. But Maltese politics is a notori- ously dysfunctional family, prone to feuds and messy separations… indeed, the Partit Demokratiku itself may almost be described as the unplanned child of one such political break-up. It is safe to say, then, that not everyone is equally enthused by Mother Stork's latest delivery. The Nationalists, for instance, are less than delighted to see that the new-born PD has already made in- roads among its own former voter- base… the category of voter it most vitally needs to overturn Labour's seemingly unassailable majority at the polls. Labour, on the other hand, is practically foaming at the mouth at the fact that the PD was formed directly from the ashes of one of its own parliamentary seats. And all along, we still know very little about the fledgling party itself. Until recently its only public face was Marlene Farrugia: who comes to the role from a past involvement with both the PN and PL. Last Sat- urday, however the beginnings of a party administration could vaguely be seen for the first-time: giving us an ultrasound view, as it were, of the PD's first kick in the womb. Marco Cremona – a well-known engineer, who is particularly vo- ciferous on the subject of water (among various other environmen- talist concerns) – is the PD's newly appointed secretary-general. No stranger to the public eye… and no stranger to political controversy, being a frequently outspoken com- mentator on many political issues on the social media. But at the same time, he is not ex- actly a politician, either. This is in fact his first sortie into the nuts and bolts of politics; and it happens to be with a party that remains largely an enigma. So why now? And why with the PD, precisely? "I'm not sure if it's a case of on- ly 'now'. In the past, I did give a contribution to other parties… especially when it came to govern- ment policy. My area of expertise concerns water, resources and the environment; and on those areas I have often been involved in dis- cussions… with all parties, I would say. From a political point of view, I have contributed in the past…" But 'political involvement' does not necessarily mean the same thing to all people. Marco Cremona uses the word 'politics' to refer to the activity that gives rise to 'poli- cies' – whereas most people under- stand affiliation with (or endorse- ment of) existing political parties… He nods. "In Malta, whatever the subject, it will be political in that sense. Even a discussion on water takes place on the level of party politics. We have a tendency to pi- geonhole people. If someone criti- cises the present government over its water management, for instance, the first question people will ask is not: 'What is he saying?' It's: 'Who is this guy? Is he red or blue?' And if you're neither red nor blue, you will be interpreted as one or the other anyway. Even on this level, I have been 'involved in politics' for a long time. All the way back to the days of Julian Manduca, in fact…" A former colleague and pioneer- ing environmentalist, the late Julian Manduca was certainly 'political' in the sense Cremona now describes. "I was active with him in Friends of the Earth from the beginning, in the late 1980s/early 1990s. One of our biggest successes – I remem- ber Julian describing it as 'the big- gest' – was in around 2001, when the government engaged British consultants for the waste sector in preparation for EU membership. This was the early days of waste management: before recycling, un- less you count the recycling of glass bottles for a few cents at the shops. Almost without even coming here, the foreign consultants took one look at Malta's stats – its size, popu- lation, etc. – and concluded that the only possible solution was an incin- erator. This became government policy for a while. But we convinced the consultants to postpone the in- clusion of an incinerator in their final draft, and to go for recycling instead. In fact, the incinerator still hasn't been built to this day…" All this, he adds, was also inter- preted as being 'political' at the time. "We were 'opposing' a gov- ernment policy… and any criticism of any government is automatically considered 'political' on a partisan level…" Cremona has in fact been various- ly labelled as both 'red' and 'blue' in this endless game of pigeon- holing… "Often at the same time!" he agrees with a laugh. "It's part of a tendency I mentioned earlier. A lot of people can't appreciate the fact that I might agree with Labour on some things, and that I would crane my neck out on Facebook to say 'this is a good proposal'; yet at the same time agree with proposals put forward by the Nationalist opposi- tion. Or a Nationalist government, for that matter. I will support any proposal I consider to be valid. So some people find it difficult to pi- geonhole me." One pigeonhole he has often been placed in concerns the other colour in the political spectrum: Green. "Traditionally, I have always vot- ed AD," he concurs. "I was present for one of the earliest – if not the very first – AD meeting in the late 1980s at Sa Maison. In fact, my in- terest in politics goes back almost to my teenage years…" This raises the question of why he would now help found a new party, rather than militate within AD – a party which already exists, and which he has supported for decades. "To be honest, I was not directly approached to contest with AD… except on a couple of occasions, when I was asked to contest local council elections. But that's not the sort of involvement I wanted…" And yet local politics is an impor- tant phase, for a small party that doesn't represent more than 2% of the electorate. It provides exposure and the opportunity for influence at community level… not to mention direct experience in public admin- istration. "All the same, I consider myself more capable of offering a contri- bution at national policy level. I don't want to sound elitist, or put down local councils, or anything like that. But there are so many things which need to be addressed at national level, especially with re- gard to the environment…, that if I had, for example, four hours a week to dedicate to 'politics', I would rather devote them to working to- wards national proposals with an NGO, than discussing whether to fix this or that street in any local- ity. I feel I have more to contribute within the area of my expertise...." Why not with AD, though? Is it just that he was never asked? "No; I wouldn't have accepted even if I had been asked. I don't think I would have made a signifi- cant difference at the time. Now, however, I feel the time is right to finally overcome the mental block that the election of a third party is 'impossible'. PD has to convince voters that it is, in fact, possible… that now is the time to make it pos- sible. This places a burden of re- sponsibility on the party. We have to put on a good show, because if we don't we would compromise the chances of other parties in future. I feel that responsibility on a per- sonal level…" This brings us to issues concern- ing the party's identity. So far, a name and a colour have been iden- tified, and also some of the people involved. There is, however, no available statute; and apart from Farrugia's vague intimations of a 'centre-left' party, it remains un- clear what PD actually stands for. As secretary-general, can Marco Cremona clarify any of these points? "On paper, I am secretary-gen- eral; but at this stage, we still con- sider ourselves as a group of vol- unteers. The party itself has not been founded yet. Let's take a step back. I was approached by Mar- lene towards the very beginning. There were two meetings where she brought together around 40 people… not all the same people at both meetings, but roughly the same number – and you'll appre- ciate that discussion was not easy. You had a lot of people who didn't know each other… an hour would go by just for everyone to introduce oneself, without actually discussing anything. I was among those who suggested to Marlene that, while it's good to meet people and get different views on board, what was needed was a small core of people to start establishing the basic struc- tures… " Even with this core group in place, the structures take time to work on. "We have finalised a stat- ute, but to get everyone to agree on it requires discussion. Especially considering that more people have got involved in the last couple of months. Even choosing the name involved discussion… much more than the colour, in fact…" Coming back to his own role, Cremona points out that the actual Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 JUNE 2016 It's encouraging in terms of numbers; but the fact that the eggs are all in one basket may be problematic. Especially because it's a PN basket… so the PN will see us as a threat It's not a case that Marlene speaks, we all take notes and then run off. This is explicit in the name: the Democratic Party. It's not a one-person dictatorship. Absolutely not. PD'S SUPPORT DEMOCRACY Not just 'the party of Marlene'