‘I am not a gimmick’, says Simon Busuttil

Simon Busuttil believes that the Nationalist Party, as a result of his recent election to deputy leader, is the most 'renewed' party to contest the next election.

He also concedes that the party is currently undergoing a difficult period, characterised by internal bickering (some of which was directed at himself), and needs to be "changed from the inside".

Busuttil, who convincingly won the Nationalist Party deputy leadership election last month against finance minister Tonio Fenech, was interviewed by Reno Bugeja on the TVM talk show Dissett yesterday.

Asked directly if his success at the PN deputy leadership election marked the beginning of a new electoral strategy - 'SimonPN' to replace 'GonziPN'  - the long-serving MEP   insisted that while Lawrence Gonzi remains the uncontested leader of the Nationalist Party, he views his own role as offering support to overcome an uphill struggle to  win the next election.

"I am not a gimmick," he said in response to criticism of his appointment by AD exponent Carmel Cacopardo. On the contrary, Busuttil insisted that the PN now has a "new leadership", unlike any other party contesting this election... including Cacopardo's AD.

But how 'new' is this leadership, Bugeja asked, considering that Busuttil himself is perceived to be part of the 2008 GonziPN strategy? The MEP however sought to play down former contributions to the PN's past incarnations: arguing that his primary experience has been in European politics, and that he intends to bring that experience to a local setting "in which [he] will be participating for the first time."

As an example of the European style with which he intends to infuse local politics, he had words of praise for his Labour counterpart in the European Parliament Louis Grech, who lobbied with the European Socialists to support Tonio Borg's nomination to the Commission.

"Despite the fact that the European Socialists ultimately voted against [Borg], Grech still did his best to persuade them of Borg's competence for the job."

This approach, he said, was a mainstay of European politics because no political grouping commands an absolute majority in the House. "For this reason we are inured into reaching compromise positions on various issues. This is the sort of collaborative politics I would like to see enacted locally."

Nonetheless Busuttil was quick to criticise the Opposition on a wide variety of fronts: namely, its plans to vote against the Budget on Monday, and above all the failure of opposition leader Joseph Muscat to reveal his electoral programme so soon before an election.

Here Bugeja reminded the MEP that he was also the author of the PN's electoral manifesto, and yet similarly refused to divulge its contents to the public. Busuttil rebutted this, arguing that the Nationalist Party's record in government spoke for itself, and that the PN's intentions are in any case manifest in the budget presented last week.

However, Busuttil also indirectly admitted that his own candidacy at the PN deputy leadership election brought to the fore certain internal problems currently festering within the PN.

 Bugeja  at one point aired a clip in which former PN MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando alluded to a whispering campaign, orchestrated by a "clique" within the party, which had highlighted aspects of Busuttil's private life.

"In truth this is also the situation you have on your hands," Bugeja added... to which Busuttil admitted that "It is a difficult situation".

"However I would prefer to try and change things internally. I entered politics to change things, and joining a large party like the PN is an opportunity to effect internal changes both in the party and in the country."

The Labour Party was also invited to send its own two deputy leaders to participate in the same programme; however, the PL declined and refused to send any substitute speakers.