Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this morning invited his party to study the government’s Vision 2015, launched three years ago when the situation in the country and in the world was different, and see where the country wanted to go in the current situation, giving birth to new opportunities.
The party should also discuss other changes, including on a more inclusive society, the role of women in society and the strengthening of families.
Closing the party's general council which started on Friday, Dr Gonzi said that both parents in many families would have a career in the coming years and although this was important for the country, the family was also important. So the future had to be planned and priorities set.
Dr Gonzi said that for Malta to continue developing, information technology and energy were essential. This was a big challenge.
Theoretically, Malta should not be a successful country – it was small and it lacked resources. But instead of having its back to the wall, it was well respected and successful.
The Prime Minister said that his party would be organising a conference for non politicians in the coming month. This would set out the agenda for the future, putting solidarity at the centre of values.
Earlier, Dr Gonzi referred to the recent events in Parliament and said that the government’s trust in the Opposition leader was this week betrayed with the breach of an agreement about a vote which had to be taken.
He understood that there could be political situations, but when one gave his word and based on that word certain decisions were taken, changing it was unacceptable.
There could not be a situation where matters of grave importance where being debated in the EU while the House in Malta spent seven hours debating the minutes.
The people deserved better and the credibility of politicians was at stake.
All Nationalist MPs, Dr Gonzi said, were there for the benefit of the country and would continue working despite the spokes in the wheels being placed by the opposition.
The Prime Minister asked how long was the Opposition to remain a ‘no’ party. While other countries had ended up with big deficits, Malta remained financially stable and the deficit was brought down from 4.3 per cent to 3.8 per cent at the end of last year. It was in fact one of only two countries in teh EU to end the year with a lower deficit.
The government managed to do this without the help of the opposition, which would have rather left everything as it was.
Dr Gonzi said that contrary to Labour, the PN government did not speak abour a hole but about the mountain it was confident the country could climb to the top.