A daunting task awaits the Nationalist Party as it recovers from a 36,000 vote deficit, Simon Busuttil told supporters in an impassioned plea for openness.
The PN leader said changes to the party statute enacted recently were not “a simple change in a document” but an attempt to open the party’s doors to “new blood”.
He urged party supporters to seek new people. “Now is the time to join the PN, influence its policy and give your contribution.”
Addressing party supporters at Qormi, Dr Busuttil urged them not to forget that last year they started the race with “minus 36,000”.
“It’s a long road ahead. We face a mountain but together we can climb it. Together we can become a strong party again,” he said.
Is he putting his political interest above people’s safety of people
The Opposition leader’s rallying call for unity comes in the run-up to the European Parliament elections that will be held in May. Dr Busuttil has set the goal of securing three seats for the PN.
His exhortation yesterday came on the back of pointed criticism at the government’s track record, accusing Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of being “immature, irresponsible and an amateur”.
Dr Busuttil criticised the employment of Labour MP Joe Debono Grech as a consultant to the Gozo Ministry – the news was revealed in The Sunday Times of Malta – and accused the government of taking care of its own.
Referring to the impeachment motion against Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, Dr Busuttil said it was shameful the government was delaying the process. “It wants to reform the justice sector but is not leading by example.”
Speaking about the new gas-fired power station, Dr Busuttil said the government was ignoring residents and experts when it insisted on having a floating gas storage facility inside Marsaxlokk Port. Enemalta has said that locating the gas storage ship outside the port would be costlier and require more time to develop.
“Is the Prime Minister putting his political interest above the safety of people because he had said he would resign if the power station is not ready in two years?”
Dr Busuttil said if this was the case Dr Muscat was not fit to be Prime Minister.
He then referred to reports last week that emission levels at Delimara were within EU limits despite the BWSC plant having been fired by heavy fuel oil.
Dr Busuttil asked: “Who will shoulder political responsibility for Labour’s claim that the power station was a cancer factory?”
The Labour Party said in a statement that Dr Busuttil failed to mention the smart meter scandal uncovered this week, accusing him of shunning political responsibility.
The theft of millions of euros in electricity happened under the PN administration and the government did not want to sweep the problem under the carpet as the Opposition leader seemed to be doing, Labour said.
MEP candidate calls for business tax cuts
Nationalist Party MEP candidate Ray Bugeja appears to have broken ranks with his party’s philosophy of cutting income tax for middle income earners.
When addressing the party faithful at the PN club in Qormi yesterday, Mr Bugeja said the Labour government should have cut taxes for enterprise rather than target middle income earners.
But although the criticism was directed towards the government, Mr Bugeja failed to point out that the income tax cut introduced by the current administration was an electoral pledge originally made by the PN.
Reducing the top rate to 25 per cent from 35 per cent for those earning €60,000 had been a key pledge of the PN in the 2008 election and only started being implemented in the last year of the legislature.
After the PN’s last Budget was truncated when MP Franco Debono voted against it, the PL pledged to uphold the three-year tax reduction plan and started implementing it last year.
Mr Bugeja said the taxes should have been cut for businesses to encourage them to create more jobs and make further investments.
A businessman, Mr Bugeja had come out of nowhere last year to contest the PN leadership. After his attempt failed miserably, he was appointed by PN leader Simon Busuttil to head a commission that analysed the party’s dire financial situation.
Mr Bugeja was approved an MEP candidate this year.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com