Opposition leader Simon Busuttil this evening hit out at the Labour government for eroding democracy, the rule of law and the standards of good governance.

Winding up the PN electoral campaign for the European Parliament elections, Dr Busuttil said in a meeting outside PN headquarters that the PN had learnt and was continuing to learn the lessons of the last general election.

During this campaign the PN had shown it was close to the people and full of enthusiasm, energy and ideas.

Team PN had shown itself to be united and energetic, Dr Busuttil said.

This was a party which acted in the national interest, not its own. The PN was a party which did not sell its soul for votes, it did not hug people found guilty by the criminal court and handed a suspended jail term.

The PN was not a party which turned truth on its head, as the prime minister did yesterday when he falsely claimed that the waiting list for cataract operations had been reduced, or that the power station contract had not been signed, when it actually was. 

The PN did not use public property for its needs, as Labour did with Australia hall.

The PN, Dr Busuttil said, was not a party of insults and threats. It was not confrontational, as Labour was. Labour had promised a new style of politics but had reverted to the oldest, ugliest form.

During this campaign, which also coincided with the tenth anniversary of EU accession achieved thanks to the PN, the PN showed it was truly the party which believed in the European principles.

Among them were dignity and equality where the government worked for job creation for all, not those in its core, and it handed out medicines without discrimination, not like the present one was doing.

The PN respected the dignity of the country and did not put a price on its identity by selling citizenship.

The PN remained the party which believed in full democracy. But the government had brought in a culture of fear. The people had got used, in the past, to speak  freely and criticise the government. Now people were scared of speaking out.

Because the PN believed in democracy, it disagreed that the country's institutions should be taken over by the government, as had happened, including the police and the AFM where the commanders were appointed because they were close to Dr Muscat or the Labour Party.

The PN believed in the rule of law, and it therefore disagreed with the way how some people were given preferential treatment. The PL promised zero tolerance yet people who committed corruption in the theft of electricity had not been taken to court. The government and the PL had even persisted in using illegal billboards. So how could the people believe the law was equal to all?

European principles demanded high standards of governance, but this government had brought down standards. Instead of standards of governance the country had seen double standards and double speak, Dr Busuttil said.

Transparency had been promised, but the government had feared published the Henley contract before the European elections. It had also failed to publish the contract for the new power station, It had not even had the courage to actually say how much the Energy Minister's wife was paid for her government job. This was a government which lacked political courage and feared the truth. 

The PN was a party which continued to be respected in Europe, in contrast to Labour and the government, which were being ignored. The government had shown itself to be incompetent in the EU, as evidenced by the EU decision ordering Malta to reduce its financial incentive for industrial investment.

Clearly, it was the prime minister who needed to wake up and smell the coffee. He needed to learn how to negotiate and achieve results for Malta, in the same way as the PN had been when it achieved a record funding package for Malta.

Dr Busuttil urged all to vote so that the PN could, for the first time, manage to have three of its candidates elected. The task was difficult for the PN, coming from an electoral deficit and facing a 'factory of lies'.

It did not have the funds that Labour had.

Some people were still hurt and still did not know whether to trust the PN again. Dr Busuttil said he regretted any hurt which the PN had caused. The PN had no divine right to expect anyone's vote, but it was asking for the people's vote so that it could be in a position to serve once more and regain the people's respect. It was a long, difficult road, but one which the PN was determined to follow until the people's confidence was secured and the PN could work for a Better Malta, Dr Busuttil said.