MALTESE POLITICAL QUIZ: FIRST TO WARN, FIRST TO PROMISE
By Joe Vella
Here is a quiz about your familiarity with Maltese politics and the parties’ philosophical and political leanings.
Which party first promised assisted voluntary euthanasia?
• Labour Party
• Nationalist Party
• None of the above
Which party first promised free access to in vitro fertilization(which involves the destruction of embryonic human lives)?
• Labour Party
• Nationalist Party
• None of the above
Which party first cautioned us against illegal immigration?
• Labour Party
• Nationalist Party
• None of the above
Which party first promised abortion as a form of mercy-killing?
• Labour Party
• Nationalist Party
• None of the above
Malta’s politics is a tight two-party system dominated by Labour and the Nationalists, who have alternated in power since independence. Both are mainstream parties focused on EU integration, tourism, and managing economic pressures.
However, neither Labour nor the Nationalists were the first to articulate these positions. That “distinction” belongs to Norman Lowell’s Imperium Europa, a far-right party that promotes European identity politics, uncompromising opposition to illegal immigration, and racialist views heavily influenced by thinkers such as Francis Parker Yockey. The party has never secured a parliamentary seat and consistently registers only low single-digit percentages at the polls. Lowell himself is known for a series of provocative and inflammatory remarks concerning race, disability, and immigration.
If the Maltese media is genuinely looking for far-right influences, it should turn its attention to the two major parties, which are increasingly adopting Norman Lowell’s views. Even the Nationalists have publicly stated that their MPs will vote according to their own personal preference on euthanasia, effectively abandoning the principle of the sanctity of life.
This right-wing blog has consistently defended the right to life from conception to natural death. Nevertheless, the Maltese media rarely misses a chance to brand it as “far right.” Far right we are not. True far-right parties have historically been linked to the killing of “undesirables” among their own, under one pretext or another, the Nazis being the prime example.