It seems that, unfortunately, the EP will be at the hands of the fringe parties. Is Malta’s PL one of them? Considering that the MLP, now renamed PL, was all so contrarian and negative about Malta’s EU membership, it might just as well be considered as a sort of fringe in sheep’s clothing, sleeping with clowns of the Beppe Grillo type.

U veru “le pain” ghax ghalhekk boccu.

http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2014/05/25/le-fn-obtient-ses-meilleurs-scores-chez-les-jeunes-et-les-ouvriers_4425625_823448.html

I wouldn’t call them apples and oranges. More like onions and shallots, or cauliflower and broccoli.

Different vegetables yes, but still members of the same family.

What do you mean by Mintoffian and national narrative?

Oh but I never denied that. What is unfair is to compare an intelligent, polite, eloquent politician to a scruffy populist like Muscat.

Natioanlism and populism are not oneand the same thing. In any case, I am not a FN supporter bit one needs to umderstand the French comtext and to have followed French politics to be able to umderstand the rise of the FN.

The comparison betweeen Muscat and Le Pen is not unfair. They are both far right politicians.

You’re absolutely wrong, trying to compare apples and oranges.

For a start, France’s electoral system is completely unlike Malta’s.

Secondly, the rise of the FN is directly proportional to the disillusionment with the Socialists. But the Socialists rode to victory on the strength of the white collar and (crucially) immigrant/minority vote. So the FN’s electorate is mostly the blue collar/rural segment, which feels disenfranchised. The FN never had the historical blessing enjoyed by Malta’s Labour, where the Mintoffian narrative IS the national narrative for Labour and PN alike.

Thirdly the FN siphoned votes off the Right, which could never find a natural unifying figure after Sarkozy. Or even a unifying political project. It’s not so much an FN victory as a Socialist defeat. With Sarkozy gone, the Socialists no longer have a raison d’être. Malta’s Labour, on the other hand, still has a raison d’être, which is to shape Malta to its own image. And it has succeeded. Laburisti hate Simon Busuttil as much as they hated Gonzi, if not more.