Telling it like it is

Discontent against a government which has been in office almost continuously since 1987 is to be expected.

However the Nationalists must try harder not to alienate their core voter, the person who works hard to improve his or her standard of living, the person who works an 11-hour day and finds huge chunks have gone in taxes to reduce the deficit, fine, but not always to overtly improve the quality of our lives.

I recently wrote that the Nationalists have delivered but are somehow not able to deliver that they have delivered! It is true that the Nationalists are weak on marketing and even weaker on propaganda, particularly when it comes to hammering their opponents.

Yet Eddie can bring enough of a majority back on his side, particularly if he targets disgruntled Nationalists who know that a return of Labour would be disastrous for us all.

It is time for better marketing but it is also time to tell it like it is, particularly for the business community. It is true that jobs have been created, it is true that inflation is not out of control, but times are tight and the intelligent Nationalist voter needs to have that acknowledged.

You are never, after all, going to convince the diehards for whom Super 1 or KullHadd is the Bible. But you cannot afford to lose traditional Nationalists, who have worked hard to have arrived where they arrived, who witnessed the chaos of Labour administrations and who are still very hesitant about giving anyone their vote.

Tell it like it is especially to those in business, and more importantly give the businesss community some relief from all the additional expenses they have to contend with as well as a spurt to inject some life into a very quiet business sector.

Don't rely too heavily on the fact that the MLP is a disastrous alternative and that Alternattiva Demokratika (with our current voting system at least!) can only get Labour back into power and keep us out of the European Union.

The strategy that Alfred Sant is Labour's worst liability has worked up to now but may well not work again.

The percentage of undecided voters could throw out any result. And the undecided really are undecided.

The PM himself needs to convince these floaters not only that the EU is our natural home, not only that Alfred Sant is no alternative, but that the Nationalists should be elected for another record term of office.

Those who work in business are struggling. Of that there is no doubt. Whether you're a food importer struggling with too many competitors and clients who want to buy on the never-never, whether you own a three-star hotel where the tour operator is only paying you Lm3.50 per night, things are difficult.

These people rightly want their difficulties acknowledged, at least! Tell them you realise times are hard, tell them we all need to pull together, acknowledge some of these difficulties and their raised costs in the next Budget. These people are the motor of our economy. Without them we all collapse.

The Maltese entrpreneur gets a lot of stick for not paying his taxes, for over trading, for speculating and every other sin you can mention. But without them we, and the government, are lost.

Most of these people cannot go on strike to make their grievances heard. Most of these cannot threaten to lay off thousands, as one recently did. Many employ just a few people but all these families will matter hugely in the next election.

Anyone who wants to win the next election must think of Malta as one big company, one big workplace. Surveys abroad have consistenly shown that what workers want most is not always the pay rise or more holidays. Workers want to feel involved, they want to feel in the know.

Currently many core Nationalists do not feel like this. They feel alienated and distanced from the Nationalist Party. Labour may not be the ogre of the past and is still pretty cynical and useless but do they belong in the PN?

And most irritating of all for the business community is to be told that times are great. They are not. They are not so bad that we cannot recover either, but the difficulties of the business community must be acknowledged in this coming crucial year.

Paying electricity bills promptly is fine. Paying raised tax bills may have been necessary. But couple that with the banks having a totally different approach to credit over the last three years and you begin to understand why the business community, i.e., those who employ us productively (!) are finding times hard.

The PN strategy over the next year must be very core group-specific. A general ghazla ghal uliedna will swing many but maybe not enough.

Those who have always helped themselves and do not rely on the government for jobs, housing, education or even a health service are having a hard time.

Let us tell it like it is. Acknowledge it at least and give some help in the next Budget to keep the motors of our economy positive in times which are tight, everywhere, including in the Europe we aspire to join.

This election is so different. This election is the one we have to remain very clear about. This election is about choosing whether our direction is Europe, where we belong or - as I heard Alfred Sant recently say - to go down South to our Arab friends, to the Chinese and to the Russians.

Tell it like it is. Break the mould. Lead this country into Europe acknowledging that we have had to pay a little to gain a lot. No pain, no gain. The last, or last but one Budget before the election must do many things, but giving a slight lift to the business community should be this government's first priority.