The government is transforming the country from a conservative backwater into one of the best in Europe, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said at a rally kicking off the Labour Party’s European election campaign.
While the Nationalist Party opted for a rally at its own headquarters, the Labour Party opted to turn its own event into a mini mass-meeting, replete with loud dance music, in a party stronghold: Vittoriosa. One such loud track, John Martin’s “Anywhere for You,” which opens with the words “we can rewrite the story, tonight we’re forever young,” was announced to be the campaign song.
Inverted teardrop-shaped signs – echoing the shape of the campaign logo – varyingly describing Malta as positive, liberal, young, creative or European, were distributed to the crowd ahead of the rally.
Dr Muscat, the only speaker in the event, presented the Labour “movement” as the intellectual heir of Mikiel Anton Vassalli and Manwel Dimech, noting that while others sought to instil fear in change, one could be inspired by what historical figures managed to achieve.
Unsurprisingly, the Prime Minister also mentioned Dom Mintoff – earning an equally unsurprising applause – but also paid tribute to Mr Mintoff’s political rival Giorgio Borg Olivier for working towards the country’s independence.
He then stressed that Europe was not a flag or a map, but a “belief in a set of values,” declaring a belief in equality to be first and foremost.
Dr Muscat said that until last year, Malta was “drowned in arrogance,” governed by people who thought that they were the only ones in the right. He said that “they” had claimed that utility bills could not be reduced, that free childcare was unfeasible and that the country was not ready for the “civil liberties we need to become a truly European society.”
However, he added, the change that was deemed impossible was now being felt, stating that this change was not just being felt in people’s pockets, but also “in our hearts, the change in courage, when we look at our children and our brothers in the knowledge that the state no longer distinguishes among us.”
Earlier in the day, Dr Busuttil had noted that the Labour government’s first year was disappointing, but Dr Muscat encouraged the public to judge his government by its actions.
“We were never afraid of the people’s judgment, we are not afraid now and we never will be,” the Prime Minister declared.
As may have been expected, Dr Muscat’s address focused far more on local issues than European ones: he mentioned lower bills, free childcare and the refunds of VAT paid on vehicle registration taxes as he concluded his speech.
But he emphasised, yet again, that he viewed his party as the underdog.
Dr Muscat dismissed claims that his party could not lose a 36,000-vote majority in just a year, pointing out that similar results were registered in both the 2004 and 2009 European Parliament elections.
However, he insisted that while the election was an uphill struggle, such challenges only encouraged him, before exhorting the crowd to help ensure that his party would be the first party in government to gain a majority of votes in a European election.