Those seeking change only had to look at the way Malta had been transformed “from the roots up” since EU accession, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.
In a speech explicitly aimed at young and undecided voters who were “lukewarm to the PN or politics in general”, Dr Gonzi trumpeted the €1.1 billion EU budgetary agreement Malta obtained last week.
“This didn’t happen by chance. It was down to tough negotiations and winning the respect of other EU states. It happened because the EU could see how well we had put previous EU funds to use,” he said.
Dr Gonzi listed sectors which the PN was eager to invest in, from a €100 million cash injection for local industry to an across-the-board reduction in the tax burden, a reinforced stipend system and investment in educational infrastructure.
But, he warned those watching, Malta stood to lose everything “if those in power aren’t prudent”. He laid into his adversary Joseph Muscat.
“This is the man who told me to use Cyprus as an economic model, who went as far as Iceland to warn them against joining the EU, who took to the streets when we privitised the dry docks. How can you trust him with the country’s future?”
The PL, he said, wore a sparkling mask, “but behind it, everything is rotten.” That metaphor was the cue for Dr Gonzi to decry the “scandalous” recording of PL deputy leader Toni Abela uploaded to YouTube. In the recording, Dr Abela can be heard telling PL band club officials that he had caught a barman cutting up “a white block” in the club kitchen, fired him but not reported anything to the police.
“It’s frightening that a deputy leader would hide a criminal act – potential drug trafficking – just to protect his party’s reputation. And in just three weeks this man could be part of those in power,” he said. Having pressured Dr Muscat to “assume responsibility” for his deputy’s actions, the Prime Minister then argued that the two parties’ reactions to alleged crime were diametrically opposed.
Alluding to a separate recording of Dr Abela, in which he speaks of asking a Labourite police officer to hold off pressing charges following a fight at a PL club, Dr Gonzi told the crowd “they (the PL) ask the police to keep things quiet, while we ask the police to investigate and even gave a pardon to help in their investigations.” The warnings against an eventual PL government kept on coming, with Dr Gonzi saying a red government brought with it “only risks: for the economy, for jobs and for this country’s values”.