The government lacked vision and its sole interest was public relations, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this evening.

Speaking during a Nationalist Party activity in Attard as part of the MEP election campaign, Dr Busuttil called on the Prime Minister to pull up his socks before it was too late and come up with ideas and solutions to tackle the rising unemployment.

"We need solutions and not a vision which is not even worth the big two cents surprise," Dr Busuttil said.

He said that while the Nationalist Party in government had worked hard to make Malta a success in the European Union, the present government lacked ideas and vision.

He referred to the National Employment Policy launched this morning and said the Nationalist Party would study it in depth to come up with its position. However, it was clear that the government did not know in which direction to take the country.

"We created jobs and a sound economy with the introduction of various economic activities such as aviation, financial services, the maritime industry and gaming. But in a year Labour has not come up out with a single new idea."

On the forthcoming EP elections, Dr Busuttil said the electorate had the opportunity to send two messages - a warning to Dr Muscat to change course, stop campaigning and start governing while giving the PN a boost to show that it was possible for the party to win the next general election in four years time.

The event was attended by the EPP’s candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker.