Decisions taken by the Nationalist Party's general council would lead to a victory at the next general election in three years' time, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.
Closing the weekend session of the council, which discussed changes to the party statute, Dr Gonzi said the council was only half way through and another weekend would be taken up. This showed, he said, that the party was changing because it was reading the signs of the times.
"The debate in our party is real, the dialogue is frank and open and differences are discussed. We do not conduct annual general meetings like those of the Labour Party to ensure that Alfred Sant is kept at the helm," he said.
Dr Gonzi said Nationalists were enthusiastic and dedicated and he thanked those working in committees and the youths.
"The party has opened itself up so that more women will participate. The country needs to make a big leap. We need more women in politics, in the labour market, in NGOs and in local councils and the PN has acted upon this by increasing the possibility of women working within its ranks."
On Saturday, a motion to increase female representation on the council was approved after much debate.
The PN's policies were drawn up with the country's interests in mind, Dr Gonzi said. "We do not draw up policies so that people can applaud them. We do what needs to be done.
"This is the main difference between us and the MLP. The Labour Party sees gloom and doom. They paint everything black. They see a crisis everywhere except within their own party.
"In spite of the bleak picture the MLP paints, last week we had a local company investing Lm7.5 million and this week I will be visiting another which is about to invest Lm11 - 12 million. There is a lot being invested in the building and refurbishing of hotels.
"On the environmental front, we are doing a long list of things to improve our quality of life.
"We are picking up many issues at the same time but we have no time to waste and decisions have to be taken for the common good," Dr Gonzi said.
Turning to local councils, Dr Gonzi said Dr Sant was insulting those Labourite councillors who were in a minority.
"At first I used to take Dr Sant's assessments of MLP-dominated councils scoring 90 per cent and PN councils failing the test as a joke. But this attitude shows that the MLP is still a discriminatory party," he said.
He urged local councils to enter into a partnership with the government and to do things together. He also urged them to make things simpler for the self-employed. People should choose the best councillors who can improve their locality, Dr Gonzi said.
Deputy Leader Tonio Borg said the PN was the oldest party but it always had fresh ideas and a young leadership team.
He recalled a general conference held 30 years ago, in which radical amendments to the statute had been made, making the party a more democratic one.
"It was always the PN that made the best decisions in the interests of the country and which took action when this was needed," he said.
Time was proving wrong the MLP's pre-EU referendum propaganda, Dr Borg said. He recalled that Labour had put up a billboard arguing that the EU would not give Malta more than Lm1.5 million while in fact Malta was receiving €25 million for roads and e12 million for the waste recycling plant.
The general council was put off to Friday. There was a long discussion yesterday on an amendment to enable the Gozo manager to attend meetings of the administrative council.
Though the session was long, it was not without its light moments.
There were so many amendments put to the vote, which required so many shows of hands, that at one point Dr Gonzi raised his hand to show he was against an amendment when he meant to vote in favour, provoking initial bewilderment which gave way to smiles and laughter when it was realised he had raised his hand at the wrong moment.