The Nationalist Party is pledging to decrease the prices of petrol and diesel by 5c/litre and that Malta’s prices at the pumps will remain below the European average, Party Leader Simon Busuttil announced this evening. 

Dr Busuttil was speaking at the General Council, in the run up towards next week’s election, where the Forza Nazzjonali manifesto was unveiled. The snap election was called for 3 June by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Out of the approximate 521 proposals presented in the Nationalist Party manifesto this evening, Party Leader Simon Busuttil said referred to the petrol pledge as being one of the pledges he is most fond of, however, the one closest to his heart is the cleaning of politics in Malta he said. 

“The proposal closest to my heart from the manifesto is to clean politics once and for all,” he said.

Prior to this, he explained how three programs make up the electoral manifesto; one for Gozo, one for youth and another one more generic. There are 100,100 and 321 proposals in the programs respectively. 

Split up in three; one for Gozo, one for youth and the other general. “I will have these three programs in front of me to keep in mind everything we promised you.”

Other proposals which he said were “close to his heart” include; income tax for small businesses and self-employed at 10% on first 50,000 profit, the creation of 30,000 “quality jobs” as well as putting the environment “in the heart of politics”. 

He went on to say that another proposal he is fond of in the manifesto, albeit “ambitious” is to have a metro as an alternative transport system, having free childcare for all, providing free medicines and increasing pension.

“In politics you should serve people, and not have the people serving you,” he said. 

Dr Busuttil concluded by comparing journey of electoral campaign to marathon, with factors like resilience and determination, “and who works to arrive, does arrive,” he said.  

Earlier Nationalist Party Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami said that the foundation of the manifesto is the fighting against corruption. He said that the proposals aim at not creating a repetition of “what Joseph Muscat did in the past four years,” with regards to corruption, “but would rather create honest politics.” “Simon Busuttil will renew the code of ethics,” he said, “Joseph Muscat decreased the standards, Simon Busuttil will raise the standards.” 

He said, referring to the manifesto, that the first thing the party will do is get a new police commissioner who would make the police corps “feel proud” and who will immediately look into the  corruption which caused Joseph Muscat to call an election a year earlier, he said. 

Adding to this, another proposal is for an investigative magistrate to be appointed to investigated all allegations of corruption straight away, he said. He added that granting “favours” for specific people will be “a thing of the past.” 

“On 3 June this country will regain transparency and honesty, and I can assure you that justice will be granted,” he said. 

Secretary General Rosette Thake said that the responsibility in these general elections is in the hands of the population. “We need to build democracy anew, and if there is a party that can do that, it’s the Nationalist Party, and if there’s a person to do that, it’s Simon Busuttil,” she said. She continued to say that when putting the program together, the party thought about people and families rather than statistics and numbers. 

“The Nationalist Party wanted to propose something alternative, a new vision for Malta, proud of its identity, and a country that is respected internationally,” she said, “Forza Nazzjonali is an example of a new style of politics in Malta.”

Simon Mizzi, who directed the creation of the electoral program in Gozo, told those present that the proposals were made “by people who have Gozo at heart.” He said that the manifesto is a “commitment to create Gozo into a feast of culture, looking into the future, strengthens the Gozitan society, and, above all, creates peace of mind in the health sector.” He added, “thinking of not only what is viable, but also what is needed.”

Shadow Minister for Social Policy, Paula Mifsud Bonnici, who also addressed the event, expressed her satisfaction that “over 100 proposals will provide new opportunities for families.” 

Deputy Leader Mario De Marco said that the manifesto shows the party’s “commitment to the country,” that is “dedicated to the governance of this country, as we knew that was needed.”

“When Muscat’s government fell under the weight of corruption, it found us prepared,” he said, “we had already prepared hundreds of proposals, so when Joseph Muscat called the election on 1 May, and on 2 May he said ‘where are your proposals?’, we gave proposals day after day after day, and here we have them altogether.”

Turning to the manifesto’s proposals regarding the economy, Dr De Marco said that Joseph Muscat boasted a lot about how the economy grew, however, the Nationalist party noticed that this growth “wasnt experienced by many but rather only by a few, so many of our proposals in the manifesto address these people; such as pensioners, those employees with a low wage.” 

“It was only an economy of money, as long as every month he got out some figure without taking notice of those who weren't keeping up,” he said, “this isn't going to be our politics or economy.

“This program is a word which is perhaps overused, it is a roadmap,” he said, “however Joseph Muscat’s roadmap has gotten us to a point which has collapsed our country,” “our roadmap does the opposite,” he said, “it will fix the damage.” 

He added that the most urgent thing is to “fix what Joseph Muscat has done in the past four years to the reputation of our country.”

Joseph Grech from MZPN also spoke at the event.

Photos: Michael Camilleri