Labour wants to eradicate the "tribal syndrome" in Malta and is willing to work across party lines on issues of national importance such Malta's European Union presidency in 2017, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this evening.

Dr Muscat said he had a sense of humour but there was nothing humorous about the PN billboard which portrayed him with a painted red face holding a placard reading 'unemployment' and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi with a painted blue face holding a placard which said 'jobs'.

He said this billboard showed how the Nationalist Party had a tribal attitude, labelling people according to their political beliefs rather than basing its judgement on what these people can offer.

"We want a genuine and clean break with the past, changing the way of doing politics in Malta. The young are fed up of this old way of doing politics and we have a way forward for this," Dr Muscat said.

He was speaking during an interview on television programme TX which was recorded in Gharghur.

Asked about the oil scandal and the two arraignments so far, Dr Muscat said the prime minister needed to explain his statements in the wake of the arraignment of former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone, who was charged with aggravated bribery in connection with the ongoing scandal concerning oil procurement commissions.

In the statement, the Dr Gonzi had noted that Mr Tabone was already Enemalta chairman when he became Prime Minister, and that his tenure had not been extended when it expired a year later.

"Is Dr Gonzi blaming his predecessor for Mr Tabone's appointment? And why did he not extend his contract - did he know something back then? The statement the Prime Minister released raises more questions than answers," he said.