The views expressed in your Editorial Home and Away (TMID, 20 February) are far from the objective analysis that times like these, more than any other, cry for.

You try to excuse the staged reception by both the pro-Gonzi and pro-Sant factions. The 600-plus students who attended merely represented the great divide that exists in our nation, even in the educational field. You seem to have been carried away by the over-enthusiastic behaviour of students who were only interested in confrontation and not debate, proof of the sad results that the politics of this island produce.

The only ray of hope for me was the absence of the other 9,000 students who stayed away, which would indicate that either they are not interested in politics or if they have made up their mind who to vote for, preferred the politics of quiet analysis than those of the squares. This is the band of students that I hope our future leaders will eventually hail from and not from the hotheads in the hall, though undoubtedly some of them will eventually get through since they are already politically affiliated.

It is interesting that the PN has not had the guts to directly ask people to vote it in again, such is its record after 20 years of power. They have to hide behind the trusted persona of the Prime Minister who has indicated that he will finally change his cabinet should he be re-elected. We can only wait and see whether this time round, he will finally act.

After all, his declared decision to take responsibility for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, is by all accounts a rather strange one, considering that he supported George Pullicino to the hilt throughout. Is this an admission of guilt, one of the “mistakes” that begs for forgiveness because it does not spoil, as he claims, the overall performance of his government? The publication of the Mepa Auditor’s Report makes it quite clear that he and his Cabinet were determined not to lose the euros associated with the Sant’ Antnin project, even to the possible detriment of the health of the Marsascala community. And is it the possibility of defeat that has brought about this sudden repentance?

Or is this an admission that he sees no suitable honest candidate from his future parliamentarians capable of running Mepa as the public expects? Has Mepa become such a mess that it requires a PM to run it? Poor Malta! A sad future indeed!

In this campaign, it has become routine for each leader to parallel the following day any initiative the other announces the day before.

The Opposition Leader promised to take alternative energy under his care if elected PM. Is there no one among the Labour candidates equipped to deal with such an important issue? Not a good omen for our country indeed.

When it comes to hand-outs, the sky seems to be the limit. Looking at the general situation in an unbiased manner, it is evident that whoever wins will have to face the reality of a bloated economy and will find it hard to deliver on the very generous financial promises offered. The real problems the country will be facing in the near future are by any standards huge, and cry out for sacrifices and hard work. Let’s look at some of the obvious:

• the real state of Enemalta cannot forever be kept under wraps and the surcharge problem has not gone away.

• There is the EU pressure to raise our alternative energy production by five per cent in two years time or face more fines.

• What plans are in hand to reduce CO2 emissions? Will we be copying the UK and start taxing all cars that guzzle petrol?

• What effect will the millions spent on the physical refurbishing of our schools have on the need to produce students that can take Malta into the future? The PN has been running education for 20 years, yet they are still experimenting with it.

• In what ways are the two parties preparing for the restructuring that is being demanded by the European Union in the Health sector? Are promises to keep the health service free just election promises? Can we sustain our health bill when the social services bill keeps spiralling, and thousands of our pensioners face poverty unless immediate action is taken?

• Will our herdsmen and farmers be relegated to history in the face of stiff competition from our EU members?

• What will the future hold for the families of the 1,800 workers of the Malta Drydocks?

• What is the MLPN solution to the grave immigration problem?

These problems have been courageously and fearlessly debated by Azzjoni Nazzjonali. That our voice was suppressed, battered, misinterpreted and even unreported is a pity, since, as can be judged by our electoral programme, Azzjoni Nazzjonali is more concerned with the long-term future of our country than in winning an election without preparing our people for the worst still to come.

We have always maintained that once the dust settles and the new administration starts looking at their in-tray in a few weeks time, our people will be called upon to make further sacrifices to make up for the failures, over-funding, mismanagement and nice sounding promises by the MLPN leaders.

It is not Azzjoni Nazzjonali’s future that is at stake here, but that of our young generation. The EU alone cannot be the panacea that so many believe will solve all our problems. The answer has to lie with us here in Malta, with the decisions we take, with the leaders we elect, and, above all, by deeply and soberly reflecting on the state of the country and solutions it is crying for; solutions based on reality not on political gimmicks aimed at attracting votes.

Josie Muscat is leader of Azzjoni Nazzjonali