In what is probably his last political address this year Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning echoed the President’s Republic Day appeal and called for unity.

“As politicians we need to lead by example. Whenever we resort to aggressive language we must then take a step back as people expect much better from us. I pledge to work more for unity, and to create wealth not for the red and against the blue faction, but for all the Maltese,” Dr Muscat said.

Addressing a political activity at the Ħamrun Labour Party club, a week to the day before Christmas, Dr Muscat dedicated the final part of his speech to the points raised by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca who sounded the alarm bells on what she described as the “scarcity of honesty and truth in political life”.

“Though people have every right to level criticism, there is no need to resort to certain language which instills hatred and tribal divisions,” the Prime Minister said this morning.

“The easiest thing for me this morning would be to rally the troops and appease hardliners, but what is the first thing which will come to mind  today week when families will gather for Christmas lunch? Whether those sitting at the table are Labour or Nationalists? No. ... The first thing which comes to mind is that they, whether they are Labour or Nationalists, are our brothers and sisters,” the Prime Minister said as the crowd burst in applause.

Prior to his call for unity, Dr Muscat lauded the positive review given by the International Monetary Fund a few days ago. He said that this success was also significant as Malta’s “exceptional” performance was not the result of harsh fiscal measures which had put burdens on the people.

Dr Muscat said that there was a prevailing sense of “serenity” in the country.

“This is testament to the fact that people, regardless of their political beliefs, are confident that Malta is heading in the right direction, ” he said.

Referring to the recent announcement that a pharmaceutical company would be laying off about 200 workers he noted that this issue had subsided from the public agenda after a few days. The  plenty of job opportunities around means that such concerns are no longer as serious as they used to be before, he said.

Looking back at Labour’s track record since coming to power in March 2013, he said that the government had “solved” the deficit problem, generated wealth, created jobs, increased pensions, worked to increase the minimum wage and had started the process to ditch the use of the highly-polluting heavy fuel oil at the power station.

“This success was not achieved by increasing taxes or racking up debts, but thanks to a sound political direction,” the Prime Minister remarked.

Dr Muscat insisted that despite these achievements the government was still in touch with the people.

“Though we have already achieved a lot, we will not rest on our laurels as we are aiming even higher,” he added.