The Malta Independent on Sunday
There is no use hiding it.` It was written on all the faces that gathered at the Centru Nazzjonali Laburista for the mass rally of 15th March to celebrate the excellent results Labour scored in the local elections.
They were not just happy for the near 8 point advantage Labour scored over the PN in the local elections. What they really were hoping for was that this result would be a trial run for a Labour victory at the next general elections.
The future is uncertain to all and nothing should be taken for granted.` Only the future can give a contextual meaning to the wide Labour victory at the local polls. Will the future certify this victory as an important point on the trend line to a Labour victory at the next elections to continue its mission to modernise the country` A mission` cut all too short in 1998 but that remains necessary and valid, probably more so, today. Or will it just a stitch in a fabric which patterns Labour as the ideal party to run local government but without the credentials to run the whole country`
Labour leadership was thankfully cautious in dampening enthusiasm and stressing that the celebrations should serve as an occasion to resolve harder efforts for the general election victory. It is good for Labour`s soul to realise that success at the local level presents no automatic guarantee for the true success the party aspires for.`
There is a` major obstacle which could prove to Labour that there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. It is the EU referendum.` If the party loses the referendum on an issue which is a central platform to its foreign policy it would have to face, whilst in a bad shape,` a general election which would follow the referendum within months as a matter of course.
Labour rightly insists that the EU issue needs to be resolved by an election preceding a` referendum. And Labour ought` to stress more forcefully that its policy of partnership with the EU, which` thankfully is much more understandable than Switzerland in the Mediterranean, does not intrinsically exclude eventual membership if the EU develops into a dynamic organisation which fosters diversity and moves away from the current one size fits all of the acquis communitaire.
So Labour needs to stress that it is not in Malta`s interest to have a premature referendum that could evoke a negative result that sends the wrong signals to the EU. A result that could be interpreted as a rebuff when in fact all it would be saying to the EU is that much as we love to work with you, your current rules do not provide for a self-respecting small island state to protect its own identity and destiny.
One could draw parallel to the independence referendum.` Labour`s no in the referendum of 1964 was not a no` to the concept of independence per se. It was a no to the independence as negotiated by Borg Olivier`s government.
Labour and the PN in 1964 were both in favour of independence and only the small parties ( at the time represented in parliament) were against independence as a matter of principle. The difference at the time between Labour and the PN was that Labour wanted independence without any conditions and wanted to negotiate a defence agreement with Britain after independence.` Labour wanted to conduct such negotiations from a position of strength as a sovereign state.
The PN showing weakness which ought to call for no celebrations, accepted independence as part of a package which involved inter-alia a defence agreement which basically preserved for Britain many of the rights hitherto enjoyed as of right but which now had to be obtained as a concession from Malta as an independent country.` So in giving us our statehood Britain wanted to tie us not to use it against their commercial and defence interest. The PN fell for it whilst Labour resisted. True, Labour still played it back 7 years later when they gained government.
And as many pro-PN rightly argue this was only possible because we were independent.` Independence was a process lasting hundreds of years and its merits is not exclusive to whoever, exposing political weakness ` well meant no doubt but still a weakness- accepted a conditional independence whilst Labour was fighting for an unconditional one.
Labour`s` success at next general election could well depend on taking a leaf from the experience of the independence referendum. Rather than just seeking a straight yes/no fight Labour should include in its net all who are not prepared to vote yes to EU membership on current terms. Labour should include in its net those who say no as much as those who say not yet,` and do so by either not participating in the referendum or by invalidating the vote.
As Labour today celebrates a premature Freedom Day, it would do good to remember that to grow the local victory into the richly deserved national one, smart choices have to be made before for the EU referendum.` To remember also that it in the referendum it would not only be facing the PN with enriched resources from our tax money, but the whole structure of the EU,` eager as they are to see Malta melting is sovereignty, thus` taking back what Labour had acquired in the seventies` reverting` to independence style 1964.
Alfred Mifsud
There is no use hiding it.` It was written on all the faces that gathered at the Centru Nazzjonali Laburista for the mass rally of 15th March to celebrate the excellent results Labour scored in the local elections.
They were not just happy for the near 8 point advantage Labour scored over the PN in the local elections. What they really were hoping for was that this result would be a trial run for a Labour victory at the next general elections.
The future is uncertain to all and nothing should be taken for granted.` Only the future can give a contextual meaning to the wide Labour victory at the local polls. Will the future certify this victory as an important point on the trend line to a Labour victory at the next elections to continue its mission to modernise the country` A mission` cut all too short in 1998 but that remains necessary and valid, probably more so, today. Or will it just a stitch in a fabric which patterns Labour as the ideal party to run local government but without the credentials to run the whole country`
Labour leadership was thankfully cautious in dampening enthusiasm and stressing that the celebrations should serve as an occasion to resolve harder efforts for the general election victory. It is good for Labour`s soul to realise that success at the local level presents no automatic guarantee for the true success the party aspires for.`
There is a` major obstacle which could prove to Labour that there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. It is the EU referendum.` If the party loses the referendum on an issue which is a central platform to its foreign policy it would have to face, whilst in a bad shape,` a general election which would follow the referendum within months as a matter of course.
Labour rightly insists that the EU issue needs to be resolved by an election preceding a` referendum. And Labour ought` to stress more forcefully that its policy of partnership with the EU, which` thankfully is much more understandable than Switzerland in the Mediterranean, does not intrinsically exclude eventual membership if the EU develops into a dynamic organisation which fosters diversity and moves away from the current one size fits all of the acquis communitaire.
So Labour needs to stress that it is not in Malta`s interest to have a premature referendum that could evoke a negative result that sends the wrong signals to the EU. A result that could be interpreted as a rebuff when in fact all it would be saying to the EU is that much as we love to work with you, your current rules do not provide for a self-respecting small island state to protect its own identity and destiny.
One could draw parallel to the independence referendum.` Labour`s no in the referendum of 1964 was not a no` to the concept of independence per se. It was a no to the independence as negotiated by Borg Olivier`s government.
Labour and the PN in 1964 were both in favour of independence and only the small parties ( at the time represented in parliament) were against independence as a matter of principle. The difference at the time between Labour and the PN was that Labour wanted independence without any conditions and wanted to negotiate a defence agreement with Britain after independence.` Labour wanted to conduct such negotiations from a position of strength as a sovereign state.
The PN showing weakness which ought to call for no celebrations, accepted independence as part of a package which involved inter-alia a defence agreement which basically preserved for Britain many of the rights hitherto enjoyed as of right but which now had to be obtained as a concession from Malta as an independent country.` So in giving us our statehood Britain wanted to tie us not to use it against their commercial and defence interest. The PN fell for it whilst Labour resisted. True, Labour still played it back 7 years later when they gained government.
And as many pro-PN rightly argue this was only possible because we were independent.` Independence was a process lasting hundreds of years and its merits is not exclusive to whoever, exposing political weakness ` well meant no doubt but still a weakness- accepted a conditional independence whilst Labour was fighting for an unconditional one.
Labour`s` success at next general election could well depend on taking a leaf from the experience of the independence referendum. Rather than just seeking a straight yes/no fight Labour should include in its net all who are not prepared to vote yes to EU membership on current terms. Labour should include in its net those who say no as much as those who say not yet,` and do so by either not participating in the referendum or by invalidating the vote.
As Labour today celebrates a premature Freedom Day, it would do good to remember that to grow the local victory into the richly deserved national one, smart choices have to be made before for the EU referendum.` To remember also that it in the referendum it would not only be facing the PN with enriched resources from our tax money, but the whole structure of the EU,` eager as they are to see Malta melting is sovereignty, thus` taking back what Labour had acquired in the seventies` reverting` to independence style 1964.
Alfred Mifsud
No comments:
Post a Comment