Labour leader Joseph Muscat yesterday said he longed for a "new Malta" where the Maltese were free of the barriers that divided them.

Speaking during the Freedom Day commemorations in Vittoriosa, Dr Muscat said: "Let us free ourselves of the barriers of hatred and lack of communication among families, localities and ourselves."

He insisted that the Maltese heroes who achieved independence, who made Malta a republic, and led it to freedom, did so for all the Maltese, and the public holidays which marked those events should be holidays which all the Maltese held dear.

The country, as a whole, needed to work so that in seven years' time, when it assumed the presidency of the EU, it would be able to project leadership and vision for the whole of the EU.

This year's Freedom Day event by the Labour Party was solemn and low key, in view of Holy Week. Instead of the usual mass meeting, a musico-literary programme focused on Malta's road to freedom was held.

Dr Muscat then led the Labour leadership in laying flowers on the monument, which recalls the closure of the British military base on March 31, 1979.