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The most important word: “Believe” - Muscat

Nestor Laiviera 07 May 2009 20:49

Asked if which was the most important word out of the PL’s electoral slogan “We Believe, We Work, We Succeed”, Labour Leader Dr Joseph Muscat said that, for him the most important word is “believe”.

“I am not here because I like red and not blue. I am colour-blind, in that I do not recognise colours,” Dr Muscat told crowds assembled at Naxxar during a party activity where PL European Parliamentary Candidates were also present.

“I am here because I believe: I believe that every little girl should have the same chances of success in life as my own daughters.”

He said that what motivated him and his work was the concept of democratic socialism, and what it could do for the country.

“I believe that it is not simply a question of voting labour due to family background, or merely out of habit or due to antipathy towards the Nationalist Party,” Dr Muscat said, “but stemming from a belief that the labour party can truly make a better place.

“This is our work,” Dr Muscat stressed, adding that the electoral slogan reflected that commitment, adding that when people were committed, they worked hard to achieve what they believed in.

“The change I want to see,” Dr Muscat stressed, “was to be able to have Maltese and Gozitans who, after a long day’s work, could return home, switch on the TV and see individuals working for the country’s future and leading the country to growth and prosperity.”

Referring to the revision in the electricity tariffs approved on Wednesday by the Malta Resources Authority, Dr Muscat said that despite this, the utility surcharge was at only 50% when oil prices were as they are today, Dr Muscat said, however the bills being received today carry a surcharge burden equivalent to 100%.

Families and businesses need to be in a position to plan, Dr Muscat said: “they need security and peace of mind.”

He urged Dr Gonzi “to take a step back and reconsider it.”

If he were Prime Minister, Dr Muscat said, Dr Muscat said he would do his utmost to give assurances to families and businesses by freezing the tariffs until end of year, and “not raise them again just as soon as the election rolls by.”

Dr Muscat also said how the price of bottled gas will rise once more, adding that it was something which Dr Gonzi has kept silent about.

Dr Muscat said how, just as soon as the MEP elections pass, Dr Gonzi will be increasing the bottled gas, despite the recent price hike just a few weeks ago.

“Yes,” Dr Muscat said, “Gonzi has lost control of the tariffs and given a big needless shock to families and businesses.”

Dr Muscat spoke how, on that same day, a project for the setting up of a European Asylum Agency was approved in the European Parliament that was the same proposal that the European Socialist group (PSE) had proposed two years ago.

At the time, the proposal was voted against by the Nationalist MEP’s along with the European People’s Party and as a result the proposal was voted out of parliament.

Apparently, Dr Muscat said, the Council thought that the PSE’s proposal was worth voting for again, and in a second vote two years later, the proposal was approved.

Dr Muscat noted that in the second vote, the EPP voted alongside the European Socialist Group: “better late than never,” Dr Muscat noted, “but we have still lost two years.”

Burden sharing, Dr Muscat reiterated, “cannot work unless it is mandatory.”

When he had voiced his dissent to the government’s willingness to sign a voluntary burden-sharing pact, Dr Gonzi had told Dr Muscat that he was the only one opposing the pact. Dr Muscat emphasised how, since then, not a single member state has taken a single illegal immigrant off Malta’s hands.

Now, Dr Muscat said, the EP was agreeing with the PL’s position, the same position which the government had slammed, adding that the issue is now set to go before the council of ministers.

There, Dr Muscat said, Dr Gonzi will have to justify his past position and play a different tune to that which he played when he voted in favour of a voluntary burden sharing pact.

The PL, Dr Muscat emphasised, was always in favour of mandatory burden sharing, adding that the party’s candidates will always vote in favour of national interests first and foremost, and not buckle to European pressure.

Dr Muscat spoke of the PL’s vision to create jobs, particularly in the environmental sector.

Work is crucial to our economy, Dr Muscat said, emphasising that the country needs to see to it that more employment is created.

Dr Muscat was confident that more employment could be generated but he pointed out, certainly not by squandering public funds frivolously, but by having a vision and a concrete plan.

“We need to move forward and develop ourselves as people, before the can push the economy to develop and move forward as well,” Dr Muscat said.

While creating jobs, Dr Muscat said that those who have just lost their jobs needed to be protected as well while they regained their footing and obtained new employment.

He reiterated his call for a system whereby those who have recently lost their job are granted a mandatory ‘no-repayment’ period on bank loans. This would not mean that loans are suddenly dropped, or forgotten, but extended merely by a matter of months, Dr Muscat said.

This is a concrete example of how social corporate responsibility should be, Dr Muscat said.

We are in a situation where the big giants of our economy need to help the small regain their footing. When the small prospers and goes up, it carries up the big giants forward along with them, Dr Muscat said.

Dr Muscat spoke of how many Maltese and Gozitans were going through the experience, for the first time, of having lost their jobs, unable to find alternate jobs and find themselves having to register for unemployment.

“This experiences is traumatic for many who have always been productive members of society,” Dr Muscat said.

The solution, Dr Muscat said, lay in creating real sustainable long-term jobs, not vague statistics, or transient jobs that lasted only during the election period only to vanish into thin air months alter.

Dr Muscat also emphasised the need to ensure that pays and wages actually lasted longer. He said that he encountered many who are presently trying to secure a second part-time job.

They were trying to do so, Dr Muscat pointed out, not to be able to improve their quality of life, but simply so that they could keep up with the rising cost of living and maintain their present quality of life.

This situation of “working more to earn less,” Dr Muscat said, needed to be addressed and reversed. Many, he said, are scared of the word “control,” but Dr Muscat said that he firmly believed that prices needed to be monitored, in the interest of limiting consumer abuse.

“The state needs to intervene to ensure that people are not being robbed,” Dr Muscat said.

We do not want people to vote or support the Labour Party because they hold a grudge against Lawrence Gonzi, Dr Muscat said, but because they truly believe in what the PL stands for.

“We want to build a coalition between middle class, students, pensioners, business owners and self-employed.” Dr Muscat said.

United, Dr Muscat said, a coalition of people coming from all walks of life will be able to work towards generating employment, creating peace of mind and taking the country to new levels of prosperity.

“The PL has no preconceptions towards anyone,” Dr Muscat said.

“The door is always wide open and the party’s arms will always welcome any who want to join its vision.”

Dr Muscat expressed conviction that there will likely be PN supporters who will vote for PL for the first time in the coming MEP election, welcoming all who identified with the Labour Party and its vision, be they those who voted in favour of EU membership and those who voted in favour of the Nationalist Party in the last election.

He also appealed to those PL members “who have been with us from the very start: this is a new family we are forming for the first time, and we welcome all to our new coalition,” Dr Muscat said.

There are many who lost heart, who might say that the PL should have won last election, Dr Muscat said. These people are asking: why should we go out and vote again, he said.

“If you are a worker of GO, of the Drydocks, a hunter, a bus owner, or a taxi owner, or a teacher, or a minibus driver, or a hearse owner,” Dr Muscat said, “only one person took you for a ride,” referring to Dr Gonzi.

“Now is the chance when you can give us the tools through which we can take up your case and give you a voice,” Dr Muscat told cheering crowds, “now you can show that this population will not let itself be swindled any longer.”

Comments

Gatt Noel - 08 May 2009 13:54

mike turner - 08 May 2009 09:49

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