The PN can win yet another general election if it starts to believe it can, MEP Simon Busuttil told PN’s general council meeting, where optimism reigned supreme.
At the last council in February, Dr Busuttil was chosen by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to be his special delegate to help bring the PN leader closer to the people.
“I have learnt a few things,” Dr Busuttil said. “Yes, many people have complaints but in general they just want to be heard and held to esteem.”
He added that the electorate had not given up on the PN because they still wanted to share their problems, proposals and ideas with them.
“The fact that they want to speak to us, despite our mistakes, shows they know we are the best party to lead the country,” he said, with a beaming smile on his face.
The people were ready to give the PN another chance, he added.
“[But] to win the next election we need to start believing we can win it. If we ourselves do not believe we can win, we cannot expect others to believe it. I believe we can win the next election and we all need to start believing it is definitely possible.”
Secondly, the PN could not simply ride on the failings of the Labour Party.
“I don’t want to win because someone else plays badly but because I play better,” he said.
It was good to expose the incompetence of Labour, he said, but the PN must also ensure it retained the best ideas and politics.
Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo was also optimistic, saying that although the government was still moving with a slow puncture, it was getting where it needed to go.
He made reference to three recent football leagues where “blues beat reds” despite making mistakes throughout previous games. “This, he said, should give the PN hope that it too could beat the reds.
“He who does nothing makes no mistakes. And the Opposition is making mistakes without doing anything,” he said.
He appealed for the party to make better use of its media to ensure the parties were even on propaganda. “Then we can score a last-minute goal.”
Meanwhile, backbencher Beppe Fenech Adami took Labour to task on its guarantee for youths, saying it was based on unambitious proposals by the Party of European Socialists.
“I logged onto their website to understand this campaign and I found that out of some seven million unemployed people they are aiming to find work for just two million.”
He said Labour leader Joseph Muscat was aspiring to be like Finland and Austria, but Austria has the same levels of unemployment as Malta and Finland has much higher rates.
In light of all this, he said, Labour could forget the idea of a “walk-over” at the polls.
“We will decide when to go for the game, and when we do, we will have the best team and the best strategy,” he said.