Alfred Sant: Bidu Gdid
So ex Labour PM Alfred Sant, currently an Opposition backbencher, is going to have his very own bidu gdid.
He recently announced that he will not be contesting the general election next year.
The news now is that he will stand for election to the European Parliament, on the Labour ticket. Significantly, he did not wait to be asked (unless this was some hidden deal with his Great Leader in exchange for leaving parliament), but wrote to inform Labour’s deputy leader for party affairs, Toni Abela, of his decision.
They can’t say no, can they.
Significantly, too, he wrote that it is not in Labour’s best interests that he stand for election to the Maltese parliament again.
Finally, 14 years after the first of his three electoral defeats, he understands (too late, and when he is an irrelevance) that he is a liability.
But oh, the shamelessness of it.
This is the man who pulled out all the stops to prevent us joining the European Union – from ‘freezing’ Malta’s application as soon as he became prime minister, to fighting a relentless battle against every aspect of membership, telling us to vote No, abstain or invalidate our ballot sheet, then announcing that ‘partnership’ won the referendum and telling his supporters to go out and celebrate.
Now he wants to end his political career as a member of the European Parliament. And given that Labour supporters will vote for him in droves, that he shall do.
So it’s going to be a reversal of roles. Joseph Muscat was an MEP when Sant was Labour leader. Now Sant is going to be an MEP when Muscat is Labour leader (and prime minister).
Sweet.
All we need now to complete this cute picture is for Joseph Muscat to send George ‘Allahares Nidhlu L-Ewropa’ Vella to Brussels as EU Commissioner when Tonio Borg’s 18 months are up.
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Wig shops in Brussels?
Stock up now.
Forsi haddiehor ghandu bzonn FACE-MASK !
Hafna nies juzaw face masks ruhi…it’s good for the skin.
Min, int?
But not a stupid wig.
Mr. Privitera, may i recommend that you wear a face-mask yourself after your poor showing on TVHEMM last night.
Whilst zapping through the TV stations I couldn’t help looking on as you unsuccessfully tried to make the late Dom Mintoff the centre of your failed arguments.
You really made my day as you flipped through the papers you had with you and never managed to use one page to support your arguments.
How can I not mention the moment when the TV presenter told you to keep political arguments in the hands of politicians, and in so doing reminding you that you are just a common citizen not the politician you tried to depict.
http://tvm.com.mt/live/
Choose the Thursday playlist and start watching at the 12:40 mark and let the Privitera show begin. Load up with popcorn.
Jew xi Svizzera fil-Mediterran.
Thank you for providing this link, Kenneth – I had a good laugh at Mr Privitera’s expense.
Both ladies, who were on the panel, argued extremely well. They left poor old Privitera, speechless.
Class act performance by Privitera.
Had me in stitches.
Martek, forsi?
@Bystander.
Of course there are wig shops in Brussels – the same ones where Vince Farrugia does his shopping.
I was truly disgusted when I read the news this afternoon.
If anything, this confirms what a bunch of opportunists these people are.
The PN are right in saying that the Labour Party are indeed STILL eurosceptic – they have both No2EU Ellul Bonici and now Sant who will be standing for election in this regard.
I can’t help but think that Sant has taken inspiration from his good old friend Edward Scicluna in this regard, as one last chance to get a great payday for doing jack all in Europe.
Matt B. Of course you were disgusted. You immediately realised that another crushing defeat for GonziPN at the MEPs election is already on the cards !
Tkellem, Mr. Delusional.
No one doubts Sant’s intelligence – myself included. But what plenty of people do doubt is his capabilities as a politician.
And, seeing that you need everything spelt out for you – maybe it’s because of your old age, who knows? – that is what made people react in the way I did.
There again, I guess he’s taking a leaf right out of dear leader Joseph’s book now, what with first campaigning against EU membership and then jumping onto the bandwagon when realising its benefits. As I said above, opportunists at best.
Oh, and just for the record, I’d take a defeat at the MEP elections any day of the week over a defeat at the general elections. The latter have more far-reaching consequences for our nation as a whole because the results of which could potentially leave us with a dimwit for a Prime Minister, and a bunch of embarrassments representing us in Europe.
Eddy Privitera! You are ecstatic because Alfred Sant is a SCOOP for the MLP!
If we were all as narrow-minded, petty and mean-spirited as you are, I’d have said good riddance.
But if we (and that means you too) wish to be shot of this man, why should we wish to inflict the sight and sound of him on anyone else?
Come next MEP elections, all the ‘disgruntled Nationalists’ would be ruing the day they ever let Labour win power.
They will be at the head of the voting queues to show their disapproval for anything Labour, and to assuage the guilty feelings they would be experiencing by then.
Eddy Privitera will have to make a very hard decision now.
Is he going to vote for Alfred Sant first or Marlene Mizzi. We know that Eddy has a soft spot for Marlene.
The MLP forms part of the Socialist group in the European Parliament.
Where will Sant sit? One place would be the Eurosceptics group which incorporates UKIP, Leghisti and other neofascists. The Socialists are the most pro-EU grouping.
I think Alfred Sant has the wrong address, can anyone make it clear to him that the ‘Partnership” lost and the European Parliament is in Brussels not Switzerland.
Araw lil min se tpoggu biex jikkompetilu ghal akbar numru ta’ voti, isa !
Eddie, the Maltese word is ‘issa’ not ‘isa’.
He won’t be as bad as that chubby lady MEP who questioned Tonio Borg about birth control being illegal in Malta.
And still no regrets.
He will be appointment head of fisheries, responsible for the breeding of Makku.
Really thick-skinned
People change.
Yeah, tell that to the marines.
Poor guy’s political career is over. He can already pocket a pension from parliament and is now aiming to exchange whatever is left of his clout for a golden handshake.
An unorthodox way of doing it though. It hides an element of fear.
Isn’t he the one who said that Malta’s MEPs can, at best, ‘isahhnu s-siggu’?
What a tragic situation it would be for Malta if he is elected to warm his butt in Brussels.
Well for those insisting they want a change, they are going to get it.
A change comes with consequences, and this is only a taster.
And don’t forget, he did not even cast his vote. Anyone remembers the press conference with him waving his voting document to prove a point?
Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them…well, I have others
Groucho Marx
Meanwhile Eddy Privitera gives us again his views and tells us that GonziPN is terrified because of Alfred Sant.
Partnership rebah bil-kbir.
Eddy, I think we are all more terrified of people like you.
Eddy Privitera
Yesterday, 20:59
GonziPN are terrified because Dr. Sant will be contesting the EU elections. Dr.- Sant knows more about the EU than ALL the GonziPN MPs put together ! Besides an be trusted to defend Malta’s interest much more than all GonziPN EU lackeys !
Eddy Privitera can have a go as MEP. Why not? If Joseph Cuschieri is doing it, so can Eddy.
I very much doubt it. Seventy plus and he has not learnt a thing.
He was on some TV show yesterday. As he writes, so he is.
I think the best way to describe people like Privitera is the Maltese term ‘gidra’.
Insomma, he started ranting about his pension money which he has to share with a wife he is separated from. Then he mentioned his partner and started thanking his partner for being self-sufficient and I take from what he said, the partner is of no particular financial burden to him – it was so hilarious.
So Eddy, you seem to have it good. Probably more than everybody in here. What you have to share with the ex is legal obligation.
Dawn tal-Lejber, dejjem bir-rubbish tal-gholi tal-hajja, meta huma l-izjed nies li qas ghandhom igergru daqs kemm, hafna minnhom, huma bummers bil-pedigree.
Kulhadd ihobbha z-zejza. Addio principji. Sant is arguing “might as well make a go for it, why not me too?”
Sinjur Alla, ahjar tghini.
It’s a shame. George Vella once said that the PN wants to enter the EU because they were fishing for the money available at the EU posts. DISGRACE.
Sorry, but I have to say this – Wiccu u sormu xorta.
That’s like a Nazi becoming Pope.
Wait!
Political chavs, the lot.
Or perhaps our next Commissioner from Malta!!
Dear Daph,
I get the feeling from my contacts with the business world that there is a sense of inevitability regarding Malta’s future.
We are in danger of fulfilling a self fulfilling prophecy – Labour will get elected because all the people are saying so.
What I cannot fathom is why the PN are considered so bad that they are going to be consigned to the Opposition.
Or is it simply because the same party has been in power for too long? Just for the record, in Sweden the world record for continuous government by an elected party has been established. The duration? Forty-four years. And Sweden is famously and proudly a true democracy and a very liberal society.
If we had to examine the record of the PN in government we have to start considering where we left from. In 1987, the major issues were democracy, reconciliation, a third world infrastructure – no water, no electricity, no telephones, a run down airport, roads which would make buggy lover envious, a police force in disarray, education principles that were rejected in China during the 1970’s under Chairman Mao, and a sense of dejection.
I will never forget an Italy- Malta match in 1986. I was watching it in an Italian home as a guest from Malta. The journalists were describing Malta as an ‘isola melanconica che puo’ fare cosi’ tanto ma non riesce a fare niente’. I just wanted to disappear in thin air. Needless to say, I was grilled about Malta for the rest of the afternoon.
Where are we now? We have a fully functioning liberalised market, operating within EU rules and regulations, opportunities for all economic operators to strike it rich – not just for the golden circle boys and government is becoming smaller each and every day.
Where should we be? If I can express my opinion, I firmly believe that Malta should have an even smaller government, more privatisation of government services in education, prison, health, social support and care, energy sector, even revenue management. Just look what the British economy is doing – it has become a prime mover in the EU economy with its Tatcherite policies of privatising every government service. We should have more public-private partnerships. Government should only by setting the framework within which industry operates, it should not provide the services per se as government – any government – is unable to provide services in an efficient manner.
That way we should have more value for the hard earned taxpayer’s money.
Do we need fiscal dictat from Brussels? Hell yes, in Malta we have 2 parties with less than 1,000 voters difference between them and because of this they need to appease large swaths of the population.
Who can fulfill better the requirement for a more stable, fiscally savvy government?
I personally think that the PN can deliver, however it needs to tweak its performance. Some ministers have failed to deliver dismally, others have succeeded spectacularly. On balance, the PN can deliver.
As for the PL, I firmly believe that Joseph Muscat needs to purge it from the 1970’s leftovers. Their time is well and truly over. They have been weighed, measured and found wanting – not by me, but rather by history.
Today there is no place for market intervention, or promises of EU treaty re-negotiation. Malta’s economy is so well integrated with the rest of EU that any talk of this nonsense will spell disaster of epic proportions, much deeper than the damage wrought by the clowning of the VAT/CET/VAT saga.
Why change for change’s sake? Who said that all change is for the better? I remember my father telling me that in the late 1960’s Malta was being described as the next Montecarlo of the Mediterranean. Under Mintoff, instead of Montecarlo, we had the Dirghajn il-Maltin, il-Korp tal-Pijunieri, state nationalisation of every service. We slid back to the level of a third world country.
While firmly believing that this is an impossibility, I am also afraid that a Greek scenario for Malta under Labour would not be an off the wall possibility.
So, why this sense of inevitability?
Well said, Allmana. Heaven forbid we have Labour in government. I firmly believe that the PN will win the next election.
You have a valid point.
It is a mistake to take for granted success for the PN at the next election, but it is also a mistake to assume that a defeat is inevitable.
It is my impression that opinion polls show that there is a sizeable portion of the electorate that will swing the result one way or another.
This section will not be influenced by political-parties-churned propaganda, but by more sober reasoning. Defeatism is a weakness which could well be self-fulfilling.
While I must admit,your contribution made good reading,though a little biased, I unfortunatly do not agree with your last sentence.
\ The one refering to the eventual similiaraty of Greece and Malta,in the event of a Labour Govt.
I am sure that irrespective of who will be the next Govt. the chances of us following Greece’s situation is very probabel, and this owing to the huge, and I believe, unsastanable amounts of our debts,which is sure to increase by leaps and bounds,the nearer we approach the next elections.
Whoever wins ,we can all be certain that it will be us who will foot the bill, while the ones responsible wiil be surely leading a good life,at our expense.
Allamana, great contribution on your party.
Henry Ford said, “never change a winning team”. The P.N. has been since 1987, save for some minor shortcomings, a winning team.
Voting for the P.L. is very much like walking in a minefield. The mines are not visible but rest assured they are there.
One wrong step and bang. That wrong step starts with the way you choose to vote.
I agree perfectly. This nation is only 48 years old and in a growing and strong maturity phase which should take us to higher standards of living levels.
The island has been run very well by the Nationalist party and our primary focus should be to keep Labour out of the formula and as far away from power as possible. Malta would have been much more advanced had we avoided the Labour governments of the 70s and 80s.
Daphne, remember what you said about Dr. No in this Blog. I’d bet my boots that he would have no shame in being our next commissioner.
The EU parliament, last bastion for failed politicians.
Austin Gatt arroganti?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121123/local/Sant-wants-to-run-for-European-Parliament.446526
Isthi jekk taf kif Fred.
Sant hu lussu hdejn dawk l anarkisti’/liberali’/ koministi/ iddrogati u ta’ sess indeterminat, li meta gew intervistati urew kemm ma jafux fuqhiex qed jitkellmu u misinformati ghal ahhar fuq Malta. Anke Joe Cuschieri it-tuba , hdejn dawn l irmixk hu stilla.
It is getting too obvious and don’t take it lightly.
Putting anti-EU labour politicians in the EU forefront is a way to start the ball rolling to take Malta out of Europe.
Neither Joseph Muscat nor these ancient labour effigies could ever accept Malta as being part of the EU. But of course they tried to show they converted to attract disgruntled voters.
Now when they get to power again they would re-start their campaign engine of misinformation and twisting of facts against the EU and its institutions. Just look at how Joe Grima wrote to President Barroso to observe what lies inside these people!
Maybe Dr. Sant’s application to contest the forthcoming European Parliament elections should be frozen.
Or maybe he should be asked to submit an application in partnership. With Marlene Mizzi, for instance.
Because, you know, “Partnership – l-ahjar ghazla.”
On second thoughts, I propose a partnership with Sharon No2EU.
Alfred Sant in the EU Parliament?
Will he sit with the Socialists, or with Nigel Farage?
There is nothing wrong If Alfred Sant miltates within the EU so long he represents the PL. It will be. howevever, a matter of concern If Sant ties his vote with no confidence in EU. The PL and Dr Sant should make this position clear now.
It’s Putin and Medvedev all over again. It’s all so cosy isn’t it!
Eddie, when are you going to understand this? You are pathetic.
Why don’t you take a bendy-bus and with your partner you can spend the day going round Malta for €1?
Probably he would have to sit with the Eurosceptics because the Socialists will not want him within their ranks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d8kaHwGZkM
It is always years later that the PL agrees with certain decisions – local councils, embellishment of road sides and roundabouts (called them ‘lussu’ when at the same time wanting ‘to better the tourist product ‘), E.U membership and please remind me of so many others. They are never the prime movers.
Il-maiden speech ta’ Fredu fil-Parlament Ewropew se jkun fuq is-sajd tal-makku.
U jkompli jispjega kif il-grupp Socjalista fil-Parlament Ewropew hu ikbar minn tal-EPP biex ikompli mat-tema li ‘l-Partnership Rebah’.
Dan kollu jaghmilna iktar konvinti li l-Lejber vera inbidel, mhux hekk?
So, tell me, what do you think about people such as Nigel farage?
Dr. Sant ghamel froga meta kien prim ministru.
Issa sej jaghmel qassata fil Parlament Europew.
Ghaliex ma jiftahx take-away mal-ewwel.
Dan ikun il-kagun li Malta tiggieled mal-EU. Issa zgur ikollu c-cans jigdem ilsien xi hadd minn tal-EU kif kien qal li jixtieq jaghmel qabel ir-referendum. Min ivvota ghal EU u jivvota lil Alfred Sant ikun mignun bil-provi.
Veru bniedem li m’ghandux zejt f’wiccu ghax dan anqas kien ivvota kontra imma ghazel li ma’ jivvutax hu personali biex imbaghd qal li rebah il-partner ship meta hu stess ma’ vvotax u kien se jkun il-kagun li johloq inkwiet kbir bejnietna il-Maltin meta kien evidenti li kien hemm hafna laburisti li ivvotaw IVA.
Alfred Sant was “Never against Europe”. That can be true. It wouldn’t make sense to make a “partnership” with someone you are against.
But he was most definetely against joining Europe, and against Malta having seats in the European Parliament.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-05-13/news/referendum-an-awkward-tool-in-a-parliamentary-democracy-alfred-sant-1580204032/