There were things the government did that could have been avoided or done differently, according to Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech.
Without elaborating, he acknowledged the government had its defects but insisted that in just 10 months the government took decisions that affected people in a positive way.
“The stronger a government is, the less arrogant it should be and the more it should listen,” he told Labour Party delegates at the close of yesterday’s session of the general conference.
Mr Grech said a good government had to accept criticism and act on it, asking delegates not to take things for granted. “We embarked on reforms to save Enemalta and reduce electricity prices, cut the deficit without imposing austerity, started the judicial reform process, introduced laws to make politicians more accountable... These are positive developments,” he said.
Mr Grech said the Opposition was in denial when it claimed people were duped in the last election by the Labour Party’s PR machine.
He said it was time for the Labour Party to break tradition and win the MEP elections next May – the two MEP elections so far were won by the party in Opposition.
The highlight of yesterday’s conference was former Prime Minister Alfred Sant, who addressed delegates for the first time since stepping down from leader in 2008. He urged delegates to stay solidly behind the government because it was not true that “the Nationalists accepted defeat”.
He said it was time to “refresh” the way the country visualised its relations with the EU and the Labour government had to ensure it maximised the benefits while addressing the disadvantages of membership.
To do this, he added, the government had to have the backing of everyone in the party because the Opposition was not ready to play ball.
“There are many disadvantages. I keep meeting people who tell me how right I was (Labour, under his helm, had opposed EU membership) but the problem is that the disadvantages came our way. It would have been better had I been wrong.” He said that, at all levels, not least the European Parliament, the government would have to find support.
Dr Sant, an MEP candidate, was given a standing ovation, a gesture that moved him.
Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said public accounts for last year were finalised and the deficit was €120 million less than the last year of a Nationalist government.