'Record year for PN'

Nationalist Party secretary general Joe Saliba yesterday described last year as a "year of records" during which the party had notched a record of victories, a record of meetings and a record number of new members.

Mr Saliba said the party did not sit on its laurels after winning last year's general election, but embarked on a regeneration campaign.

"If we do not change with the times, time will have the better of us," he said.

Speaking during the party's general council with the theme Iva Nikbru fl-Ewropa (Yes We Grow in Europe), he stressed that the party needed to elect at least three MEPs. He said the eight PN candidates were credible because they had voted in favour of Malta's EU accession.

This was reiterated by deputy leader Tonio Borg, who asked how many of the Labour Party candidates had voted for EU membership. He quoted a number of statements made during last year's referendum and election campaigns by the MLP candidates.

Dr Borg said the sole guarantee of having candidates who would fight for people' rights within the EU would be to vote for those who had always believed in accession.

"It is dangerous to experiment in these elections," he warned, adding that experiments could lead to having a member within the European Greens, which were currently proposing taxes on transport and the environment and were promoters of abortion.

He said the PN was trustworthy and knew where it came from and where it was going.

Austria's federal chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel who is on a short visit to Malta addressed the general council who felt it was good to be present at the meeting because the PN had led Malta into Europe.

"It is your success," he said adding that the EU was neither hell nor paradise, but a most reasonable project in European history.

However, he said, it was a shame that Europe's Christian values were not being mentioned in the discussions for the new European constitution. These values were what made Europe what it was today.

Mr Schuessel said smaller countries were concerned about keeping their identity in an enlarged Europe. But did Luxemburg disappear from the EU? he asked.

A number of PN councillors addressed the council among them MP David Agius who suggested that the Prime Minister extend his hand to the opposition and to Alternattiva Demokratika so that together they can make the best of Malta and the EU.

Parliamentary secretary Edwin Vassallo believed that in next month's elections, the people will vote for the candidates they trust. The meeting continues today.