People first

Six years ago, Malta's future within the European Union was democratically sealed. With that decision firmly behind us, Labour's vision is not merely to make the best out of it but to be the best in Europe. We want Malta to be central, relevant and an active player for change within a Europe that is dynamically changing. We want our country to lead, not follow.

But, above all, we believe in Europe that puts people first. Over the past five years Labour MEPs actively worked in this direction with a positive track record that boasts of significant achievements. We managed to reduce taxes such as the elimination of satellite dish licences and the reduction of mobile roaming charges. We managed to secure an extra €30 million in funding for Frontex to combat illegal immigration and we proposed a European agency to start tackling this serious problem immediately and concretely. We spearheaded countless initiatives to improve workers' rights and conditions and championed a number of causes for and behalf of various local NGOs.

It is with this same frame of mind that we approached the campaign for the European Parliament elections. We rejected the Prime Minister's attempt to render irrelevant people's concerns on local problems. We rejected his attempt not to listen to the people.

Instead, we chose to live this campaign with the people. We wanted to be their voice for action, their hand for change. We chose to debate bread and butter issues that affect and influence the lives of our middle class, workers, youths, students, self employed and pensioners. And we are proud to have done that.

We warned the government about Malta fast becoming one of the most expensive countries in Europe with cost of living skyrocketing, the highest in the eurozone for seven consecutive months but found that Lawrence Gonzi has no plan to address this issue. Worse, he imposed exorbitant energy rates that not only piled further pressure on families and businesses alike but also dented our national competitiveness, jeopardising thousands of jobs.

On illegal immigration we put forward a concrete 20-point plan with proposals spanning from the need to assure human dignity for migrants in detention centres to standing firm and be tough with politicians internationally. But we found Dr Gonzi's readiness to weaken Malta's position by signing a non-binding burden-sharing voluntary pact, losing a unique opportunity to stand up and demand concrete solidarity from the rest of the members of the EU. Fortunately, he did change his mind a couple of months later and is now toeing our original line.

We spoke about jobs and the need not to treat employment as statistical figures. We argued on the need to find innovative ways of creating more jobs with higher value added, ensuring greater sustainability and better working conditions.

But throughout this campaign we unfortunately faced a reluctant Prime Minister continuously shying away from discussing these problems. We found that Dr Gonzi was more interested in playing politics, speaking about seats, premature victories and unrealistic percentages. This campaign exposed an out-of-touch Prime Minister who is clearly out of control. A Prime Minister detached from his people.

But we also questioned one fundamental value: honesty. Not merely political honesty but indeed honesty with the people.

We exposed Dr Gonzi's plan on healthcare notwithstanding an unequivocal electoral promise to keep it free. We get to know that Cabinet discussed a report his government commissioned on the need to introduce payments on healthcare apart from suggesting the closure of primary healthcare centres and a possible dismantling of social systems such as vaccination programmes. Moreover, we get to know that the government has already discussed this with the European Commission, which, in turn, is urging the government to accelerate the implementation of this reform.

A solemn promise, yet one of the never-ending list of other promises unashamedly broken. This cannot remain Malta's fate forever.

We believe it is time for change and for action. It is time for you to believe with us and work with us. We are presenting a team of 12 candidates coming from different walks of life and with whom you can easily identify. They will be working on an 18-point priority plan crafted with you in mind. They will be putting you first.

We believe it is time to give this Malta a new direction. Be part of this.

On Saturday send this message.

Dr Muscat is Leader of the Opposition and of the Labour Party.