Occasionally, Mario de Marco pens an opinion in the Times of Malta to remind us that he is still in politics. This time round, he actually took the time to write something meaningful and made sure that the article was prominently featured (he is one of the owners and shareholders of the Allied Publications company that owns Times of Malta).
The article makes for good reading and present a very reasonable vision for PN. Mario de Marco wants PN to commit itself to not allow development permits in ODZ, adopt a centre-left agenda, and take political positions before Labour does so as to lead the narrative. On Malta’s capacity problems he argued for a tourism of quality and referred to Malta’s capacity problem. With regard to PN itself, he also wants to sell Net TV and relocate PN’s headquarters to Valletta.
The article reads like a vision for someone who is bidding for the leadership. Mario de Marco contested PN’s leadership bid in 2013 and lost to Simon Busuttil. He then became the Deputy-Leader of the party. Eventually his activity in politics waned down, and today he is the Opposition’s spokesperson for tourism.
I don’t think he intends to contest the leadership but if he does, he would surely be saving PN from a potential total disaster. On the other hand, the fact that he took the effort to write this article clearly shows that he is very preoccupied about the future of PN.
Mario de Marco made sure to remain in the political shadows following his exit as deputy-leader: a transition many political stalwarts experience after they handover the leadership to the new team. That he feels compelled to write an article is not a good sign and actually, it’s the first coherent and written political manifesto that has been published so far by a Nationalist politician as the PN leadership race kicks off.
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