The first
Gibraltarian politician I interviewed was Dr Joseph Garcia. He was then the
young leader of the unelected GNP; today he is Deputy Chief Minister and leader
of the Liberals who have three MPs. Back in the mid 1990s he was very young. Of
course today he is still young: it is me that has grown much older. The GSLP
Liberal government is built on a firm coalition so today we talk coalitions.
David Eade: I
know many people on the left in the UK are intrigued by the coalition
between the GSLP and our Liberals. They are intrigued by the longevity of
the pact and how it worked in both opposition and in government. Neal Lawson,
the chairperson of the Compass action group which
advocates a broad coalition of the left between socialists, liberals,
environmentalists etc has studied our left coalition. What would be your
message to those seeking a similar alliance to which you have helped create
here?
Dr Joseph
Garcia: It is often a mistake to attempt to transpose the political situation in
one country to that of another in this context because the histories, parties,
policies and personalities are not the same. The reality is that there are
examples of long-lived political pacts in the Iberian peninsula. The one that
springs to mind is Convergenica y Unio who are now the Government of Catalunya.
It is made up of two parties, Union Democratica de Catalunya, which is in the
Christian Democrat International and Convergencia Democratica de Catalunya,
whose members are closely involved in Liberal International. This relationship
has worked for them, in Government and in Opposition for decades.
I know that
there are many people in the Liberal Democrat party in the UK and also in
the Labour party who consider that a broad coalition of the left is the
way forward. The political scene in the United Kingdom is unusually fluid at
this moment in time so I suppose that anything could happen in
the future. There may need to be an overriding national issue which makes
it important for parties to cooperate and work together. In
Gibraltar,
about 16 years ago now, that issue was that our position in the EU was being
seriously undermined by Spain.
DE: The
coalition in the UK between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems seems to be
a case history in how not to achieve an alliance. Do you think the coalition as
constructed after the 2010 election was a mistake?
Dr Garcia: I
have friends in the UK Liberal Democrats, and indeed in the Conservative
and Labour parties so I have to answer with a degree of caution. I think part
of the problem in the UK is that people are not used to coalition
politics. The negotiations that follow general elections elsewhere in Europe, when
there is no overall majority, provide a considerable degree of give and take
and this is very common. I have discussed this over the years with Liberal
Ministers in places like the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany where coalitions
are the norm. This is not the case
in the United Kingdom because the electoral system has traditionally favoured
the election of majority Governments. There was no majority
Government elected last time round and two parties had to agree on a common
programme which meant that both had to make compromises in the wider interests
of the country. The case studies of Gibraltar and Catalunya will show that it
is much easier if the programme for Government is agreed before the election
and not afterwards!
DE: It is
interesting the number of people who cut their political teeth with the GNP
then the Liberals who have gone on to hold posts in the GSLP, GSD and indeed
the PDP. There was dynamism in the party in those early years, do you feel the
Liberals have now lost that edge and why did those talents jump ship?
Dr Garcia: Somebody
on the other side of the political divide once told me that we started as a
political project ten years too early. Maybe he was right who knows!
DE: The GSD
recently took issue with the Liberals, as a political party, being
allowed a separate platform in a broadcast debate arguing they all but merged
with the GSLP. Given the close alliance how do you still define the
Liberals as being an independent party from the GSLP?
Dr Garcia: These
arguments are well-worn now and over a decade old. Each party has its own
members, its own Executive and its own ideas which come together in the
parliamentary group as they have done for more than ten years. We have
contested elections together in 1999, 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2011. It is probably
safe to say that the system is tried and tested. The Liberal Party brings a very important
international dimension to the table as a full voting member of Liberal
International, the worldwide
federation
of Liberal political parties. We started this work at a senior level soon after
the 1996 general election. We have since then had the opportunity to meet and
lobby politicians, parliamentarians and Government Ministers from countries all
over the world. It is no
secret that Simon Hughes MP, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats
and Graham Watson MEP are both influential friends of Gibraltar inside the
party. I am also lucky to count them as my own friends. We have seen that the
support of the UK Coalition Government on issues like Gibraltar and the
Falkland Islands is almost unprecedented. It is why David
Cameron and Nick Clegg included the reference to defence of our right to
self-determination in the Mid Term review and why the Queen's Speech
mentioned the support of this right for the first time in my political memory. These
international and particularly European connections, thanks to Graham Watson
MEP, are now serving Gibraltar well in Government. This was clear
during the high profile visit that the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and I made
to Brussels earlier this year. We are also promoting our contacts
with Liberal parties and Governments in other countries.
DE: Finally
the million dollar question. Given the closeness of the GSLP and
Liberals, given the man or woman on Main Street doesn't know whether say for
instance, and I am just choosing two names at random here, Steven Linares is a
Liberal or Paul Balban a socialist, to them it is all one government, is there
a case for the two parties to merge?
Dr Garcia: There
are two parties but one Government. This is the same as it was in Opposition
from 1999 until the end of 2011. All that has changed is that we now have the
opportunity to put our ideas and our policies into practice.
The truth is that the present system has worked and continues to work very
well for Gibraltar as a whole. The GSLP/Liberal Government is committed to
deliver our manifesto to the electorate and I know that every single one
of us is working hard to ensure that this happens.
