The first 100 days since the general election have been important not just for the new Labour Government but also for the Nationalist Party in Opposition. The Nationalist Party’s electoral defeat merited serious analysis. The report commissioned in the immediate aftermath of the election has gone a long way in dissecting the result. And it has come up with a series of recommendations that we are now considering.

We are voting in favour of all the first seven legislative bills presented by the Government, including the Budget

Over the past 100 days, all three of us have had the opportunity to conduct campaigns that have brought us closer to the members of our party and with the public at large. It was a learning experience and an investment that will certainly not go to waste.

We discussed at length the reasons that led to our electoral defeat. We have taken note of the lessons to be learnt with humility and with dignity. And we have moved on.

Indeed, these 100 days have served to usher in an extraordinary period of renewal for our party the likes of which had not been undertaken for the past quarter of a century.

As a result, the party has undergone a generational change at all levels. Apart from the leadership team, the elections to our executive committee were keenly contested and the party is now full of new faces with fresh ideas to take the party forward.

Team PN is rebuilding and will soon be, once again, a force to be reckoned with.

We intend to continue encouraging new faces to step forward and take an active role. Just last week, a new commission was established to help in the selection of new candidates to contest on behalf of the party, starting with next year’s European Parliament election. This commission is led by former European Commissioner Joe Borg.

With the leadership team in place, our first priority is to put the party back on its feet both from an organisational as well as a financial point of view. This is why a new commission was formed to propose changes to our party statute, whereas another commission was launched to address the financial operations of the party.

We are also taking various initiatives to reignite the spirit of volunteerism. It is only thanks to the time and effort of hundreds of volunteers that the party can truly reach out and serve the public well. If you want to join our team of volunteers, contact us; we are only a phone call or e-mail away.

All the while we have embarked on an outreach campaign that will take us back to the people, from private households to local clubs and from village squares to local feasts. We are losing no time in reconnecting the party with the people.

We are also working to create stronger bonds with civil society. We intend to involve civil society in the development of strong, representative policies which provide a clear alternative for our nation’s future. We are committed to treat civil society organisations as valued partners and not simply as bodies that are consulted only when ideas have already been put to paper.

Let us now turn to our role as an Opposition.

Our declared objective as an Opposition is that we will always act in the national interest. This implies that we will be a strong and tough Opposition where necessary. But likewise, we will be a constructive Opposition that has the political courage to agree with good initiatives presented by the Government.

In these first 100 days, we have already delivered on this commitment. In Parliament, we have supported the Government whenever it merited our support, and of course, we are criticising it whenever it falters. For instance, we are voting in favour of all the first seven legislative bills presented by the Government, including the Budget.

On the other hand, we are highly critical of a Bill presented by the Government intended to give MPs an executive role by allowing them to be appointed on government boards, notwithstanding legislation which to date bars them from doing so. We feel that the Bill as presented will undermine the role of parliamentarians to act as a check and scrutiny on the work of the executive.

In Parliament, all our MPs have been given a role in the Shadow Cabinet so that each and every MP may contribute towards the development of good policies and sound alternative solutions. Our parliamentary group is meeting once a week and the enthusiasm in the group is palpable.

In order to place focus on policy, each MP has been asked to establish a Focus Group, bringing together experts, practitioners and interested parties to provide technical support on policy-making. This will ensure that the PN will remain a party you can rely on for good ideas, for good policies and for good solutions.

So yes, we have heard your message loud and clear. We acknowledge that we are still at the beginning of a process to regain the respect and trust of the electorate. But we are confident that the steps we have taken in the first 100 days have been a good start to mend bridges and to rebuild a strong party, a strong Opposition, and soon enough, a credible government-in-waiting.

Simon Busuttil is leader of the Nationalist Party, Mario de Marco is deputy leader for parliamentary affairs and Beppe Fenech Adami is deputy leader for party affairs.