Edoardo "Eddie" Fenech Adami (born 7 February 1934) is a Maltese and Nationalist politician 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 his 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.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

The country's physical infrastructure was completely overhauled, with many roads reconstructed, a new airport, reverse osmosis plants and power station built, as well as the removal of import licenses and quotas. Telecommunications, financial services and the banking sectors were deregulated or privatised. As prime minister he asked for a number of presidential pardons including one for Joseph Fenech, who was a well known criminal. The pardon was proffered on the basis of Joseph Fenech acting as a star witness in a trial for the attempted murder of Richard Cachia Caruana, then personal assistant to prime minister Fenech Adami.

Fenech Adami was reconfirmed as Prime Minister in the February 1992 elections, with a modest majority. Fenech Adami resigned as Leader of the Nationalist Party in February 2004, resigning his premiership and giving up his parliamentary seat on 23 March 2004, thus becoming the longest serving Prime Minister since Malta's independence.

President of Malta

Following his resignation as Prime Minister, Fenech Adami was appointed President of Malta on 4 April 2004. He served a five-year term, leaving office on 4 April 2009, when he was succeeded by George Abela.

Foreign honours

  • 80px Grand-Cross of the Order of Prince Henry, Portugal (09.11.1994)
  • 80px Commander Grand-Cross of the Order of the Three Stars, Latvia (2004)
  • 80px Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of the Star of Romania (2004)
  • 80px Knight Grand-Cross with Grand Cordon of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2005)
  • 80px Honorary Knight Grand-Cross of the Order of the Bath, United Kingdom (2005)
  • 80px Knight Grand-Cross of the Grand Order of King Tomislav, Croatia (2006)
  • 80px Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of Merit of Hungary (2007)
  • 80px Grand-Collar of the Order of Prince Henry, Portugal (11.12.2008)
  • 80px Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, France (2010)

Other

Fenech Adami is an Honorary Member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

See also

  • List of prime ministers of Malta
  • Eddiefenechadami.org

References

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