Country in your hands, PM tells the young

Thousands of people crowded the Granaries in Floriana yesterday for the Nationalist Party's first meeting in this electoral campaign.

Huge flags bearing the PN logo and others with the slogan Gonzi PN were accompanied by EU flags in a clear association between the Nationalist Party and Malta's EU membership.

The party's election song - Flimkien Kollox Possibbli (Together everything is possible) - blared from the speakers as Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi took the stage with his wife Kate.

In a speech interspersed with applause, cheering and singing, Dr Gonzi called on the people to make a comparison between the stability brought about by the Nationalist Party and the uncertainty stemming from the Labour Party's policies, and choose between the PN's faith in people's abilities and the MLP's messages of discouragement.

The Labour Party had always sown uncertainty, something it was doing even now with Labour leader Alfred Sant saying he would reopen negotiations with the EU.

In an hour-long speech, the Prime Minister said the moment for people to make an important decision on the future of the country had arrived. It did make a difference who was leading the country in a month's time, he insisted.

He said the election will fall exactly five years after the people opted for EU membership.

Behind him on the stage as he spoke were all the PN candidates and a number of young people.

Indeed, he made a special appeal to youth, who made up a good chunk of yesterday's crowd, to see the difference between the two parties.

"The country is in your hands. What we are doing is for you because you have the future in front of you.

"We do not tell you to fear foreigners, but to compete with them and win."

He reminded voters of what he had said after being sworn in as Prime Minister four years ago - to judge him by what he did and not by what he said.

"We did our best to take the country forward. Today it is stronger and better," he said to resounding applause.

He called on the people to compare his four years at the helm with the 22 months Alfred Sant spent as Prime Minister, adding that the people in the MLP were still the same as those who made mistakes and embarrassed Malta.

In May 2004, the country had embarked on a new adventure. Since then, the deficit had dropped to under two per cent of the gross domestic product, national debt had gone down, economic growth was higher than the European average and there was record investment. He pointed to the expansion in the pharmaceutical sector, and the $300 million SmartCity investment.

Moreover, people were being left with more money in their pockets thanks to the revised tax bands, he said, also mentioning the proposed fiscal incentives he unveiled last week.

He said that, when needed, the Nationalist Party increased stipends rather than reduced them. And he again criticised the MLP's proposal to introduce a reception year in primary schools.

"We do not believe children should repeat a class, but they should rather be helped to move forward. We want them to succeed and we do not think in terms of colour, but for the benefit of the whole country."

Referring to the proposed golf course on Xagħra l-Ħamra, he said there were times when his government changed direction because a better way was found. The area is now being turned into a national park.

Dr Gonzi stressed that his government was against corruption and he had always called on the police to investigate claims.

He asked how the MLP could say it had zero tolerance for corruption and then accept in its fold somebody who turned to it only because he did not like the PN's work against corruption.

In the past years, the government had received €855 million (Lm367.05 million) from the EU, rather than the €3.49 million (Lm1.5 million) the MLP had been claiming Malta would net.

The Prime Minister also reminded people that recently the MLP had suggested a devaluation of the lira, which meant salaries would go down by 10 per cent.