The Nationalist Party’s chief reformist is proposing changing the party name but has so far been given the thumbs down, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.  

PN veteran Louis Galea, who was appointed by party leader Adrian Delia to spearhead a reform process back in July, has been pushing the idea of changing the party name to Partit Popolari (the Popular Party) – a name commonly used by centre-right parties across Europe.

Party sources said Dr Galea, a former PN general secretary and Cabinet minister, has been holding regular meetings with PN committee members and MPs, and has put forward his suggestions to “rebrand” the PN, which have not gone down well. 

PN insiders said other suggestions floated during the meetings included changing the party anthem, Sbejħa Patrija (Beautiful Homeland), and ditching the beloved party emblem, often referred to as il-Maduma.

“We were told it is time to rejuvenate the party, to make it more modern, and turn over a new leaf. But we are Nationalists, what are we going to be if we change the name of the party? It doesn’t make sense,” said one insider who was present for a meeting with Dr Galea. 

Meanwhile, sources close to the PN leadership said that while Dr Delia was keen on reforming the party, he was unlikely to back a proposal that did not go down well with the party members.  

“The idea of bringing in Louis [Galea] was to back up Adrian and to find common ground to move forward, so he will hardly want to do anything that splits the party up any more,” the source said. 

So far, Dr Galea has not had the warm reception the party leadership were expecting. Sources said that while appointing the party grandee to launch a reform of the PN had injected an “element of credibility”, he had not drawn the enthusiasm that Dr Delia was hoping for.

Many of his meetings with party regional committees had been characterised by low turnouts and “sleepy” audiences, they added. 

“Even in the fifth electoral district, which is where Louis [Galea] is from, a meeting that should have drawn a crowd of some 80 people – from six different committees – only managed to draw in about a dozen,” the source said. 

And, from some 1,000 party councillors Dr Galea had reached out to, less than half had met with him so far. 

Dr Galea has been given until this time next year to draw up a report on the current state of the PN and a road map for the way forward.

Party sources said that none of Dr Galea’s rebranding proposals had been discussed at the party executive yet, but informal chats on the subject of rebranding had been held on a one-to-one basis. 

“The question is how to revitalise the party’s image while not completely discarding its history, which is so important for our voters and supporters,” a senior member of the party said.

At 71, Dr Galea is one of the longest-serving members of the PN. He first became a member of the party’s general council and executive committee in 1972 and was a member of the administrative council from 1975 to 1987.

He also served as the party’s general secretary from 1977 to 1987.