Edoardo "Eddie" Fenech Adami (born 7 February 1934) is a Maltese politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Malta from 1987 until 1996, and again from 1998 until 2004. Subsequently, he was the seventh president of Malta from 2004 to 2009. He led the Nationalist Party to win four general elections, in 1987, 1992, 1998 and 2003, as well as the majority of votes in 1981. Staunchly pro-European, Fenech Adami was fundamental for Malta's accession to the European Union.
Originally a lawyer, Fenech Adami was co-opted Member of Parliament (MP) in 1969. He served in a number of senior party positions, including president of the Administrative and General Councils, and was elected to succeed Giorgio Borġ Olivier as party leader. From April 1977 onwards, Fenech Adami led the Nationalist opposition in a campaign of civil disobedience against the Mintoff and Mifsud Bonnici administrations of the late seventies and eighties, focusing on a message of respect for democratic principles and human rights.
Upon moving into Auberge de Castille in 1987, Fenech Adami began a policy of national reconciliation, initiating a series of political and economic reforms intended to open up the economy, reverse high unemployment and the islands' problems following sixteen years of socialist policies. His political ideology and economic policies highlighted deregulation, more flexible labour markets, the overhaul of the country's physical infrastructure and the privatisation of state-owned companies. The legal and business structures were also overhauled and trade liberalised. The communications, financial services and banking sectors were deregulated or privatised. Malta also began a period of integration with the EU, formally applying for membership in 1990.Office of the Prime Minister - Eddie Fenech Adami
Fenech Adami was re-elected with a modest majority in 1992; his popularity, however, wavered during his second term of office amid further economic reforms, particularly the introduction of VAT, and the re-branding of the main opposition party with a new and more dynamic leader, Alfred Sant. Losing power in 1996, Fenech Adami was returned as prime minister within twenty-two months, after the Labour government's decision to call a snap election backfired. Reversing the unpopular economic policies of the Labour Party, Fenech Adami reactivated Malta's EU membership application and initiated further economic reforms.
He successfully led the pro-EU movement in the 2003 EU membership referendum campaign and won the successive election. He signed Malta's Accession Treaty with the European Union and represented Malta in various EU Summits and Commonwealth meetings.
Fenech Adami resigned as Leader of the Nationalist Party in February 2004, resigning his premiership and giving up his parliamentary seat in March 2004. He became the seventh President of Malta in April 2004.
Education and professional career Edward (Edoardo) Fenech Adami was born in Birkirkara, British Malta, the son of Josephine Fenech Adami, née Pace, and Luigi Fenech Adami, a customs officer. The fourth boy in a family of five children, his early childhood was marked by the air raids and deprivation in Malta during the Second World War.
He began his education at St Aloysius' College in Birkirkara, continuing his studies there until sitting for his matriculation exams. He attended the Royal University of Malta, studying economics, classics, and then law. He was called to the bar in 1959, and started his career in the law courts. He was married to Mary née Sciberras, who died in 2011. The couple had five children – John, Beppe (a Nationalist MP), Michael (a Nationalist Local Councillor for Birkirkara), Maria and Luigi.
Early political career Fenech Adami joined the Nationalist Party in the early sixties, first as a constituency official, then as president of the Administrative and General Councils, assistant secretary general, and editor of its newspaper Il-Poplu (English: The People). He contested two unsuccessful campaigns in 1962 and 1966, becoming a Member of Parliament in 1969 following a by-election for the newly vacant seat of Ġorġ Caruana. Prime Minister Borġ Olivier was instrumental in picking Fenech Adami for this co-option to Parliament.
Believing that the Borġ Olivier administration ought to seize the initiative, Fenech Adami pleaded with Borġ Olivier to reshuffle the cabinet, and call early elections in 1970 when the British were negotiating the renewal of the islands' financial and defence agreement. The Nationalist Party was returned to the Opposition in 1971, with the Party's clubs being in the islands' villages and towns being vandalised or destroyed – a trend which continued right up to the late eighties. Fenech Adami served as spokesman for the Opposition on labour relations and social services. His political frailty peaked with his agreement with Mintoff to declare a Maltese republic in 1974, without consulting the electorate; at the time, Guido de Marco called this "an unacceptable act of betrayal." Borġ Olivier's growing weakness led to a successive electoral defeat in 1976. Fenech Adami resisted strongly the Party's proposal to abolish income tax as not being credible. Ultimately, the loss of two successive elections brought about Borġ Olivier's downfall and opened up the Nationalist Party for the choice of a new leader, and modernisation. This only happened following a 1977 Opposition parliamentary group meeting in de Marco's Ħamrun home, which forced Borġ Olivier to accept a designate-leader in his stead.
Leader of the Nationalist Party A relative newcomer to the Party, Fenech Adami contested the party leadership election against two other established MPs, Ċensu Tabone and de Marco in 1977. Fenech Adami swept the leadership contest in April 1977 with a two-thirds majority; upon his election, Fenech Adami chose to keep his two contenders in highly visible roles. Taking the lead from Borġ Olivier in 1978, Fenech Adami immediately set out to reform the Nationalist Party, adapting to the needs of a more socially aware electorate. This modernisation process attracted a new, and younger party membership.
On 15 October 1979, following hearsay about an attempt on the life of Dom Mintoff, a large group of thugs attacked and burnt down the premises and printing presses of the independent conservative newspaper, The Times of Malta. The thugs proceeded to ransack various Nationalist Party clubs and the private residence of Fenech Adami in Birkirkara. Fenech Adami's neighbours locked themselves in their homes as soon as they heard the commotion. Approaching her house from mass, Mary Fenech Adami was shocked at the mayhem: the front door was wide open, with ten men inside ransacking valuables and stealing heirlooms, smashing glass doors and shutters, hurling books and furniture outside onto the street. The thugs had wooden clubs, which appeared to be solid sawn-off table legs. The six rooms forming the ground floor of the Fenech Adami residence were completely wrecked. Mary Fenech Adami was attacked and slammed against a wall. Her earrings were ripped off, and she was punched on her chest and face. She was then kicked and pushed onto the street. Mary Fenech Adami, her four sons and her mother-in-law only escaped by going up to the third storey of their house and jumping onto a neighbour's house. These incidents marked an escalation of violence in the islands, and came to be known as Black Monday. The attack consolidated Fenech Adami's leadership, with a mass meeting held outside Fenech Adami's residence attracting one of the largest crowds ever, signalling the changing mood in the country.
The Nationalist Party's support grew enough to attract the majority of votes in the controversial 1981 elections, but failed to gain a majority of seats. This was caused by heavily gerrymandered districts, which ensured Labour would retain the Constitutionally required majority of seats in Parliament. The election led to years of bitter struggles against an entrenched Labour government. Fenech Adami led a successful campaign of civil disobedience, boycotting Parliament repeatedly from 1981 to 1983. An upsurge in political violence against the Nationalist Party began, with Fenech Adami pushing for democratic renewal in the nation. The Nationalist Party instructed supporters to boycott government-friendly businesses, bringing prominent Labour supporters to their knees thus forcing Labour to acknowledge the anomalous situation. In March 1983, the Nationalist opposition returned to their seats in Parliament on the basis of starting negotiations to enact constitutional amendments to prevent perverse results in future general elections.
On 30 November 1986, Nationalist Party supporters gathered on the Tal-Barrani road to walk towards Żejtun, where Fenech Adami was to address a mass meeting. This was only allowed after the Party challenged its right to do so in the Constitutional Court. The crowd found that the road to Żejtun was blocked by boulders, poles and burning tyres. A group of Labour supporters, some wearing balaclavas, began to assault the crowd. The situation precipitated with the arrival on site of the police's Special Mobile Unit, which fired tear-gas canisters and rubber bullets on the Nationalist Party supporters. Twenty-three people were injured, with many treated at an improvised emergency clinic at the Party headquarters in Pietà. This incident was followed a month later by the murder of Raymond Caruana, who was killed by a stray bullet fired through the door of a Nationalist Party club in Gudja by unknown Labour activists. In Parliament, Fenech Adami used his allotted Budget reply to denounce the crime, and the subsequent arrest of Pietru Pawl Busuttil, who was a Nationalist Party activist framed for the murder by the police. Fenech Adami held that the Budget was irrelevant for the Maltese people, in that the defence of liberty and democracy is what the Maltese people shall vote for. The parliamentary session and Fenech Adami's speech were interrupted by animated Labour MPs, led by ministers Wistin Abela and Lorry Sant, who almost assaulted him.
Prime Minister (1987–1996)
Following a set of constitutional changes, the party winning an absolute majority of votes would be guaranteed a parliamentary majority. In 1987, following a two-month-long campaign and thousands of workers employed with governmental agencies, parastatal and state-owned enterprises, the Nationalist Party won the general elections with a majority of 5,000 votes.
Between 1987 and 1992, Fenech Adami ushered a major period of change in Malta. Foreign relations were expanded, with Malta starting its transition towards a modern European democracy. Under Fenech Adami, the islands steered a more pro-Western course. Malta maintained its economic and political ties with Libya, diplomatic ties it built under the socialist administration, but the friendship treaty between the two countries was renegotiated. Fenech Adami widened Malta's political distance with Gaddafi, eliminating military obligations on both sides. Fenech Adami also severed Malta's air links with Libya, and honoured the UN embargo on the country.