The summer will not be long or hot enough to make the two major political parties ease up on their internal activities, which might only be partly reported in the media, notwithstanding how much it probes. Both have projects in hand which cannot be delayed.

The Labour Party has projects on two platforms. The main platform is the government. A number of promises made in the 2013 electoral manifesto are marked for early delivery, as soon as this year or next.

A strong start has been made with regard to social legislation, particularly that extending rights to minorities and to potential whistleblowers.

Such legislation was passed with bilateral consent, reflecting the early shift the opposition Nationalist Party undertook to make after its massive electoral defeat.

Further legislation is in the offing and will come up for debate after the summer recess. But work on the economic side of government business will not wait. For one thing, the Budget for 2014 is already being drawn up. The Prime Minister has said it will be Labour’s first “proper” Budget, reflecting the fact that this year’s Budget, other than for minor but important amendments, was that presented by the Nationalist government.

The 2014 Budget will be a hard nut to put together. Looking back, it will have to assess how successful the Government has or has not been in reducing the budgetary deficit in 2013.

At the moment, we have repeated affirmation that it will be done, but not an explanation of how. That explanation is not easy. It will reflect a composite of actions, which can better be reported upon than forecast.

Preparing the 2014 Budget will be a harder task. Though partially built on problematic positions embedded during the Nationalist era, such as the parlous Enemalta situation, it will be Labour’s responsibility.

In it, the Government will have to fulfill commitments that cannot be postponed. The main one will be to reduce electricity tariffs for households. The Prime Minister has already made it clear that it will happen.

The ‘how’ remains the elusive question. It will be a difficult objective to achieve. It will represent a cut in Enemalta’s recurrent revenue, before there is any decrease in recurrent expenditure.

It might be financed by one-off receipts in the short term, bridging the gap to the commissioning of cheaper production of energy. It is a major challenge, since the Prime Minister has also reiterated the commitment that energy tariffs for commercial enterprises will be reduced in 2015.

The 2014 Budget will be a hard nut to put together

To meet these commitments, there cannot be any delay in structuring how the tariff cuts will be implemented, whether they will target variable costs in electricity bills, arising out of consumption, or also fixed costs, arising out of service charges.

In parallel, work will have to continue on assessing calls for tender for the new power station itself. That will take the remaining summer months and some time beyond.

It will keep the Energy Minister tied to his desk. The Prime Minister will not be far away to be updated regularly.

Other ministries may not be as busy. But they too will concentrate on what parts of the electoral manifesto they can implement this year to ensure that these are reflected in the 2014 Budget, and to confirm that the Labour government has indeed got off to the promised start.

Easier said, but it will have to be done if the Government is not to lose credibility.

Internally, the Labour Party will have to concentrate on two issues. First, making sure that the new management team at its headquarters settles well in the saddle. There is an experience gap which can only be filled through time.

Meanwhile, care has to be taken that there are no public slip-ups which will be pounced upon by a media starved for stories other than the occasional bikini-ride on police resources, as if that were the end of the world.

Again in parallel, summer work will need emphasis on drawing up a list of candidates for the forthcoming European Parliament elections.

Labour will have a hard job to retain its fourth seat there. It cannot count on switchers, like the general election. And if there is a protest vote at all, most likely it will be against the incumbent government.

That is always the case. Yet it does not mean that the Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party will be resigned to accept. He will pull out as many plugs as possible to fight off the Nationalist challenge and retain the fourth seat.

On the Nationalist side, that blessed seat will mean that there is little bathing time this summer. The party has already come up with its first list of MEP candidates. More will be identified and thoroughly assessed.

The Nationalist leader has tied his early fortunes to winning a seat off Labour. If that happens, he will get a strong boost.

That would be important for him. It would still not serve a lot in the tremendous job of putting the PN together again after its great fall off the electoral wall.

In parallel with that, the party will be working like mad to restructure its set-up and get out of the financial hole it has sprawled into.

Talk about the party balance sheet showing holdings of various properties will not be enough. The party needs regular income. It has a man used to money working on that. It has also set a target, according to the party secretary, to have made a lot of progress by September.

These are tall orders for both parties, then. I hope they will still manage to squeeze in some time for rest from stress.

The country needs them to be fresh and able to overcome any new stress, plus that brought forward.