Have Alex Agius Saliba And Daniel Attard Ruined One Of Labour’s Strongest Political Narratives?
Labour’s anti-establishment accusations may have just come to an end, thanks to Alex Agius Saliba and Daniel Attard’s lack of support of Metsola.
The European Parliament Elections saw Roberta Metsola win the majority of seats, reclaiming her place as EP President. However, while she regained the support of the majority of the Parliament, she didn’t earn the support of two out of the remaining five Maltese MEPs.
Labour MEPs Alex Agius Saliba and Daniel Attard had made it blatantly clear during their campaigns that they would not be advocating for Metsola, were she to seek a second term. The entire party, including Robert Abela – portrayed her as a warmonger, with several ads, billboards and comments targeting her as that.
However, soon after the election, Abela declared his support for her, indicating that he never actually believed the warmonger narrative to begin with and showcasing his duplicity. Did he ever genuinely believe Metsola was a warmonger? If not, why say so? If yes, why suddenly show support to an accused genocide enabler just because she’s a fellow Maltese citizen?
The two MEPs abstained from voting, and made it clear they will stay true to their beliefs regarding certain stances she took, such as abortion and security, that they strongly disagreed with. Unlike Abela, they are being consistent with their pre-electoral statements, regardless of any backlash they might receive from Metsola and Abela supporters alike. Whether people agree with them or not, Agius Saliba and Attard stuck to their own stance throughout, without shifting to a different one as soon as circumstances changed.
This, however, comes at the cost of rebuking the Labour’s political narrative that the PN’s shooting down of several PL appointments to EU positions means it is working against Malta in Brussels. This narrative, which the PL has had for several years, inspired patriotism and allowed the PL to pitch itself as some kind of ‘anti-establishment’ party, despite being the most popular party by a clear mile.
By abstaining, Agius Saliba and Attard have risked turning this narrative on its head. If accusing the PN of working against Malta overseas for political reasons, the PL will be reminded of the images showcasing Agius Saliba refusing to stand up as Metsola was re-elected, while their fellow MEPs stood up and cheered.
It is worth noting that these constant local disputes in the EU might actually discredit Malta in the eyes of some foreign MEPs. With Malta having the smallest amount of MEPs (only six) and a population under a million, it would seem reasonable to assume that they all need to pool in their resources to make sure Malta ends up with the best possible deal.
Yet, when taking a look at both the abstentions and the refusal of congratulating Metsola from Maltese MEPs themselves, this does not appear to be the case.