Labour`s New Era

The Malta Independent



Having lost four out of the last five elections and not being able to bring to its natural end the only election it won, it might look presumptuous to talk of the beginning of a new era for Labour.

Yet the cycles of life are like that. When one hits the ground the very impact that hurts and crashes provides the momentum for the ensuing bounce.` When the cycle take one to its peak the laws of gravity start pulling it down back to earth with increasing momentum.

So even whilst it is still nursing its wounds from the heavy electoral defeat it suffered, while it conducts the necessary analysis to see what it did wrong and what could have been done better, it is important that Labour re-defines a fresh mission that could give it focus in a post Fenech Adami era.

`When one hits the ground the very impact that hurts and crashes provides the momentum for the ensuing bounce.` This exercise could be facilitated by the fact that the PN will have to struggle to maintain its attraction for popular votes that it has gained through the EU project. The unrepeatable success of the PN to make EU membership as the single most important issue before the electorate enabling it to be pardoned or condoned for its many other weaknesses and failings is all too clear.

But with the EU project out of the way and accepted as a matter of fact reality, what will be the point of distinction between the two parties` It is in this context that Labour has to find its new mission to recharge its motivations.

And indeed one does not need to look too hard. The evergreen principles upheld by Labour would remain even more relevant in these circumstances and would, if anything, require a more vigilant and strong Labour to ensure that these principles remain respected and protected by a government that has firmly pledged to do so in order to gain its mandate.

The safeguarding of our sovereignty and of our neutrality as enshrined in our constitution is not subject to electoral fashions and trends. It is a superior reality which cannot be displaced but has to co-exist with EU membership as the government repeatedly assured is possible in presenting the negotiated Treaty for our approval.

Equally the safeguarding of our social services to ensure that a market dominated Acquis is not a medium to expense out of their rights the minorities that cannot defend themselves and that need social assistance to keep a decent standard of living, is not something that can be or should be forgotten because of the new EU realities. `Labour`s defeat at the election could spark off its new era.`

On the other hand we do have to accept that EU membership on its own will not offer magic solutions to our problems. It is the discipline it drives on us that can force us to acknowledge problems as they exist and work together for truly national and sustainable solutions.

We must work together to ensure that FDI is attracted in sufficient type and quantity to generate strong economic growth.` We must work together to ensure that problems long neglected get addressed before they overwhelm us.

Problems like the budget deficit do not get fixed purely by creative accounting techniques.` They get fixed by true measures of expenditure control and generation of sustainable economic growth

Problems like the pensions time bomb cannot be allowed perpetually for posterity to solve. The demographic numbers are all too predictable and any party that is aspiring to be a future government has every interest to be part of a solution which is started off here and now.

Labour`s defeat at the election could spark off its new era.