Updated - Adds PL reaction.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi repeated five times today that "as long as the PN remains united" it will overcome the challenges ahead and even continue to run the country even after the next general election.
Speaking at the end of the PN general council meeting, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi also told the councillors that he would continue to lead the party according to his character and beliefs for as long as he enjoyed their confidence.
Over the past seven years, he said, he had served the country and the party in the way he knew best, with his values, character and his dignity. That was what he intended to continue doing for as long as he enjoyed the confidence of the PN councillors.
They knew what his beliefs were. They were built around clear values including the democratic value of ensuring that the will of the majority was carried out, while respecting the minority.
For him, personally, this principle of democracy had to co-exist with the other values which they all held dear, Dr Gonzi said.
Speaking at the PN General Council meeting, Dr Gonzi said the divorce debate had 'lit' the country. If anything, the referendum had placed the family at the top of the national agenda. The PN had wanted the referendum, the people participated in it, and the result was out. The people spoke clearly, and within a few minutes he had declared that the result would be respected (applause).
Consistency was fundamental in a democracy and the PN in its long history had always insisted - not least in 1981 - was that the will of the majority had to be respected.
The referendum was a test for the people, but also for the Nationalist Party. The PN in its long history had worked to give the country and its people their dignity. It was proud of its history and all its former leaders. Its emblem spoke about religio et patria and it remained proud of its Christian Democratic roots. It abided by its democratic roots and always had confidence in the people.
This party had changed the country, giving it proper democracy which observed the will of the majority and respected also the views of the minority.
The PN was an open party which grouped people from different sectors with different opinions. The PN was a mosaic. The party remained opened to everyone. It was an inclusive party which balanced different opinions according to what was best in the national interest.
The PN won five of the last six general elections because the PN had a political agenda which the people identified with. Nationalists celebrated in victory and suffered in defeat, but they were always united. The PN always achieved unity though diversity.
It gave the people freedom and solidarity everywhere and that attracted to it various minorities and weak sectors of society. At the same time Nationalist government helped businesses to great wealth which trickled to the rest of society. The PN had built the common good by identifying the needs of the individual.
"We gave everyone freedom to express his views, we remained united and achieved the best balance, that is the richness of this party," Dr Gonzi said.
All this was particularly relevant three weeks after the referendum which saw some within the PN in favour of divorce, and others who were against. While the majority within the PN was against divorce, the resolution approved by the party executive made clear that the views of those in favour if divorce within the party would be respected.
The party promised to respect the will of the people in the referendum, and it would do so. However, once it was clear that there was a majority in favour of divorce, the parliamentary process should also allow space for those who disagreed. He would defend the free choice of every MP as long as the majority of the referendum was respected in the final outcome. The PN was a mosaic of different views, and that should extend to the MPs, who should vote according to their conscience.
For as long as he remained party leader, no one should worry about voting according to his conscience for as long as the law was approved.
This was very different from those who boasted of giving MPs a free vote but then did not want them to vote 'no'.
"For as long as the PN remains united" - Dr Gonzi repeated five times - it would overcome the challenges ahead and continue to run the country even after the next general election, Dr Gonzi said to applause.
Dr Gonzi said the PL never came up with good solutions to the country and always created obstacles according to what suited it. Just last Friday, on Xarabank, Joseph Muscat had been unable to come up with proposals on solutions which were credible and sustainable. He was saying solutions would be announced just before the general election while turmoil raged all around Malta. The PL was being superficial, artificial, and dangerous for the country, Dr Muscat said. That showed that what came first for the PL was not the country, but winning the general election (applause).
The PL had not taken a position divorce, and it was not taking positions on oil prices, immigration, the environment, taxation and balancing the budget.
REGRET OVER HONORARIA ISSUE
Dr Gonzi said he regretted the way the honoraria issue had developed. The way the decision had been executed was wrong and the matter was wrongly explained. The government was appearing to be insensitive to the people's burdens even though, in the past three years the government had worked to address the people's needs in jobs, education and health. A series of mistakes had been made.
He was shouldering responsibility for this decision on his own, Dr Gonzi said. He however was committing himself to ensure that every individual benefited from the policies of the government.
This issue should not have developed in this way, but this fact should not detract from what the government had achieved in the past three years. Many countries were going through very difficult times, very different from Malta's.
LIBYA
Dr Gonzi said the people had to wonder what would have happened with regard to Libya had Labour been in government. He noted that Labour had still not categorical condemned the atrocities being committed in Libya.
Some declarations from labour sectors were shocking.
For example, there was criticism on assistance to warplanes who came to Malta in emergencies. He wanted to make it clear, Dr Gonzi said, that any plane which took part in operations mandated by the United Nations and needed to come to Malta in an emergency would be assisted. In the same way as he could never accept an implication that migrants in distress should not be rescued, he could not accept that any pilot ended in the sea because Malta refused to help.
TAXATION
Dr Gonzi said Joseph Muscat needed to explain what he meant on Friday about taxing industrialists and those who created jobs. Clearly, he said, this again was a situation where jobs flourished only under the PN government.
Concluding, Dr Gonzi said that although times were not easy, indicators for Malta was good. Investment was coming, thanks to government policies. The country needed to remain focused because many challenges remained, including Air Malta and oil and food prices. The Air Malta reform was complex and difficult and some people may be hurt. The process had been delayed as long as possible to ease the impact and find the best way forward. But unless restructuring was carried out, Air Malta would have to fold. The governemnt would do all it could to ensure that Air Malta survived, and that the workers who were affected were given the best solutions possible.
Malta, Dr Gonzi said, also needed to continue to reform pensions to ensure that they were sustainable and adequate in the coming years and pensions would not drop into poverty. This too was an enormously complex issue which the country needed. Here too, he said, PL was sitting on the fence.
The PN, alone, had a vision for the future and could enjoy the confidence of investors, the prime minister said. It was the only one that was setting political direction and achieving results in the economy, education and health. It was using the mosaic within it to strengthen its unity and get the best of all ideas.
Those who thought that the PN was divided needed to be shown that the party was united and determined to translate the country's progress into wealth for the people, Dr Gonzi said to applause.
PL REACTION
In a reaction to the speech, the Labour Party said the prime minister would still continue to receive the €500 a week he had given himself and his ministers.
In his speech, the PL said, Dr Gonzi had shown how cut off he was from the people.
This was a prime minister who had burdened the people with record prices for utility services and had not kept his promise to reduce income tax at the beginning of the legislature. The prime minister had also deceived workers of Air Malta, the dockyard, GO, the buses, taxis, minivans, care workers, and teachers.
While ministers were enjoying a €500 raise, families had to make do with €1.16 per week.
Furthermore, in his long speech Dr Gonzi had again not said how he would vote, as prime minister, on divorce, the PL said.