The Labour Party had two main contributors to its electoral efforts, according to its deputy leader Toni Abela: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil.

At the opening of the party’s annual general conference this evening, Dr Abela accused the PN of not assuming responsibility for its mistakes, and declared “thank God for Simon” to the amusement of those present as he rounded off his address.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Maltese Malta, European Malta, Global Malta,” and as the name may suggest, the citizenship scheme recently endorsed by the European Commission was a key topic. Dr Abela insisted that the projected €1 billion in revenue was necessary to make up for the mistakes of past Nationalist governments, who he said squandered millions.

He opened his address by paying tribute to two former ministers – Wistin Abela, who died last month, and Censu Moran, who was present – and hailed the Dom Mintoff governments for raising creating the proverbial hen that laid golden eggs; which, he said, turned into “leaden eggs” under PN governments.

The deputy leader also accused the PN of showing great political immaturity when it revealed what had been said in confidential discussions between the government and the opposition – it revealed that Minister Manuel Mallia pledged to resign if a residency requirement was introduced in the citizenship programme.

“Only children tell mummy what daddy told them,” he said, adding that the party could no longer be trusted with such discussions.

Dr Abela also insisted that the PN would keep shifting the goalposts to justify its opposition to the citizenship programme, noting how the party was now insisting on “effective residency,” as though it expected new citizens not to leave their homes. He accused the party of hypocrisy, noting how it had strongly objected to the Labour Party’s insistence that voters had to be Maltese residents, to bring “people who do not know where Malta is” to vote for them through cheap flights.

In her intervention, executive secretary Lydia Abela said that Malta now served as an example for many other countries to follow, as it had the best citizenship scheme on earth. She emphasised that the government found it easier to negotiate with the Commission than with the opposition, as the former was acting in good faith while the latter set “impossible” conditions.

MP Silvio Schembri noted that the government was already fulfilling its promises even though its hands were tied by excessive procedures, stating that it was no surprise that the PN were afraid of the revenue the citizenship scheme is expected to bring. He noted that despite claims that a Labour government would see Malta seek a bailout, only the PN ended up asking for one.

PN ‘copying our ideas’

As he opened the conference, party president Daniel Micallef commented on the general council organised by the Nationalist Party last week, in which a revised statute was approved.

He noted that the party had mocked Labour’s initiatives over the past few years, only to copy them “practically word for word.”

“Ultimately, it had no other option,” Mr Micallef added.

His thoughts were echoed by Labour’s deputy leader, who also insisted that the PN was trying to blame its statute for the defeat, rather than itself. He added that good statutes did not produce good leaders, but the opposite was true.

Party CEO Gino Cauchi announced that the party registered a fiscal imbalance of €21,800 in the financial year ended 30 June, 2013 – which included the general election and the preceding campaign.

Reading from the party’s accounts, he declared that the party’s revenue amounted to €2.84 million while its expenditure amounted to €2.73 million, but depreciation and other factors led to a net deficit. But he pointed out that this imbalance was reduced by more than €100,000 when compared to the previous year.

The party, he added, ended the financial year with €3.28 million in its consolidated fund.