Simon Busuttil takes a selfie with young people at last night’s discussion session. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The Nationalist Party is determined to be part of Malta’s history and has no option but to change, leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday.

He said this was the party’s ambition and his ambition too, as he had promised when he was elected party leader.

Addressing a discussion session as part of the PN’s Independence Day celebrations, Dr Busuttil said the party was changing.

“It has no choice but to renew itself, which does not mean forgetting your past but having the ambition to look forward.

“The only way to move forward is change,” he said.

One of the ways to achieve this change was opening its doors to new people and ideas. The party did that this week when it chose 12 new candidates for the next general election in 2018, he said.

It has no choice but to renew itself, which does not mean forgetting your past but having the ambition to look forward

Ten of the candidates addressed the event, outlining their ideas and their ambitions and explaining what they were out to achieve.

Dr Busuttil heaped praise on them, thanking them for being there for the party.

“These people are there at a time when the party needs them most. They stood up to be counted,” he said. The event was also addressed by deputy leader Mario de Marco who warned how the alarm bells of certain important sectors of the country’s economy were ringing.

“Despite successes in tourism, Air Malta is still without a chief executive and was reported to have lost €30 million last year. Malta cannot afford the airline going under.

“Even in manufacturing, there are alarm bells ringing as exportation had decreased by 25 per cent.

“We have to have the courage to admit that challenges exist because otherwise they cannot be addressed,” he said.

Referring to irregular immigration, Dr de Marco said the instability in Libya was having ripple effects on Europe.

Outlining where he wanted to see the country in the future, Dr de Marco said he wished to remove once and for all the ‘us and them’ mentality, moving away from political pique.