Labour’s electoral programme is an ambitious blueprint for Malta’s future that will ensure justice and fairness become an intrinsic value, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Friday.

Speaking at a Labour Party extraordinary general conference, Abela said the party's manifesto is a detailed plan for where it wants to take the country in the next few years.

A country, he said, that is based on core values, with fairness being the cornerstone value.

Abela said that if people gave him the “privilege” of his first electoral mandate, he would ensure that the plan is implemented and turn Malta into a land of opportunity.

He stressed the importance that people cast their votes.

“If you want a better Malta, a better environment, a country of opportunities, better quality of life for citizens, more justice and fairness, then I am confident you will choose this electoral programme. Together we can deliver and achieve a better country.”

The PL extraordinary general conference took place in a crowded MCC in Valletta.

Abela told Labour delegates who gathered in Valletta's Mediterranean Conference Centre, that Malta’s economic growth and the low unemployment rate were among the best in the EU but things could not be taken for granted.

He said that as the world is exiting the pandemic, it was now facing a new challenge with the war in Ukraine which has already seen energy prices spike.

Turning to the environment, Abela said he wanted the country to reach climate neutrality, starting with making it greener and creating more open spaces which families can enjoy.

While taking care of the country’s natural heritage, it was now time to plan for the transition to electric vehicles.

On education, Abela said Malta's educators were among the best in Europe and promised them “the salaries they deserved”.

He said the country did not have enough students becoming scientists, software developers, engineers, technicians, mathematicians so more had to be done in this respect.

The manifesto included a guarantee for children with free laptops, tablets, free internet and other measures so that future generations get the best out of schooling.

Addressing the conference earlier, PL president Daniel Micallef promised to deliver an application that would delineate which parts of the countryside are public land.

He admitted that it would not be an easy process but it had to start.

He said that another proposal was having strict deadlines by when developments must start and end, reducing the inconvenience on neighbours.

Before Micallef took the stage, the conference was dominated by IVF reforms. 

Party president Ramona Attard gave an emotional account of her personal experience with miscarriage, while a married couple spoke about losing their one-year-old son.