The party political leaders today did not hold political meetings, since it is Carnival Sunday. Nevertheless, they still enabled their supporters to hear their Sunday message on the airwaves.

The one by the prime minister, an interview broadcast on One Radio, was remarkable more for what he did not say than for what he said: in all the interview, Dr Muscat made no reference at all to the political story of the past week - the appointments of two magistrates, one of which has since withdrawn her acceptance and the other being even more controversial for it involved the daughter of the Speaker of the House of Representatives even before she is fully qualified to become a magistrate.

The prime minister's silence was even more marked in view of press stories this morning that the daughter's appointment was a sort of compensation because her father had not been appointed to the European Court of Auditors.

In truth, Dr Muscat made only one reference to the Court of Auditors appointment of former deputy leader Toni Abela when he wished him well in view of the coming hearings in front of the European Parliament.

In the interview, Dr Muscat spoke about Friday's extraordinary general conference of the party and the change in the party statute. The last time the statute was upgraded was eight years ago: since then, the world has changed, so has Malta and so has the party.

Things have worked well between the party and the government but there is need for greater synergy between them and this is the reason why the deputy leader for party affairs may now be an MP as well.

The party must be proactive and prepare itself for the future rather than let the future determine it. It must bring in people who are not normally considered to be party members, people who maybe do not even attend party activities, people who maybe are active on the social media. That is why the new deputy leader must have organisational skills. Normally, parties change under pressure from events. This change is being carried out when there is no such pressure, when the change can be done in all serenity.

There is need to modernise the party at local level, to improve the way the party responds to the people and to fashion party politics for the future.

The recent statistics published by NSO and Eurostat show that Malta now has the lowest level of unemployment in its history. Nevertheless, more work needs to be done to help those who are still unemployed get training and education.

Dr Muscat told how in recent days he has visited MHRA and met with the developers. They tell him they cannot find people for the jobs that exist in the tourism sector. Maybe the people who are still unemployed do not have the right skills, maybe the salaries in the sector are not attractive enough. The government is planning to give people in the tourism sector a skills card, just as is done with workers in the construction sector. People must understand that a job in tourism is not a job for summer but a career. That is why the government is investing €50 million to build a new ITS at world class standards.

The government also intends to encourage trade unions to be more present in hotels and in the tourism sector in general so that workers get more protection and so that negotiations with the owners become more structured through collective agreements and workers get their rights protected especially when problems crop up. It is a problem that so many visitors to Malta do not get a real Malta experience because the people they meet in hotels are not Maltese.

Malta's economic growth has been highlighted in the Commission's Winter Report with changes brought about by the present government such as IIP, Barts Hospital, the new St Luke's, the American University of Malta, the new power station, working on gas, the cut in electricity rates - all these have brought about a stong economy. The government will not stop there: it will go on. Malta already has the third highest rate of growth in the EU. By the end of this legislature, Malta will have rolled back the debt accumulated by the past three governments.

As regards the environment, the government is ready to commit to spend €200 million to improve the environment. This has been praised by none other than Yale University. The government listens to what people say and it was for this reason it split the Environment Section from Mepa. Some said the people who would be chosen would be government yes-men or academic persons but when Professor Victor Axiaq was chosen as the chairman of the Environment Commission, people saw the government was serious in its intent.

Over the past days he had visited WasteServ and saw the conclusion of a huge project which was begun and finished under this administration. When the government was elected, there was a risk the €50 million EU funds in this regard would be lost but this has now been completed in time and within budget. In previous times, WasteServ was famous for not keeping to time schedules, all this has now been changed and last week WasteServ unveiled a plant that stops the landfilling of untreated refuse, and through incineration produces enouggh energy to light up 2400 homes.

In the final part of his interview, Dr Muscat launched a series of attacks on the Leader of the Opposition. Dr Busuttil, he said, is a very negative person, full of negative speeches. Labour must not reply with like for like. On the contrary, it must remain positive and come out with solutions. On his part, Dr Busuttil has a lot to answer for. He said, for instance, that giving back to people what they paid extra when they purchased a car was corruption,. Since he is so against corruption, will he be demanding that people who have taken the government refund pay it back?

Dr Busuttil was in government when government built a school in ODZ every year. He was also in government when SmartCity was built in ODZ. First he said he will not allow any building to be done in ODZ, then he said there may be exceptions. The only building done by this government in ODZ will be the American University of Malta, for a serious educational purpose.

People will not be swayed because the Leader of the Opposition waves a flag: they will still support the government which produces growth, which tackles poverty and which enhances the middle class.

The government has a lot of projects coming up for the rest of the legislature and it will have more lined up for after this first term.