Next week voters will decide who will be responsible to lead this country for the next five years. It will be a decision that will determine whether Malta and Gozo will continue to modernize themselves, both socially and economically, or else put back the clique that was shown the door four years ago.

People tend to take things for granted. After four years of exceptional growth and success in all areas, some might consider this a natural state of play. This is not so. People should remember how things were only a few years ago. A friend of mine once told me that the establishment personified by the PN will never accept being out of power. They see power as an end and not as a means and will thus always play a high stake game to get there. What we have witnessed in the last few months is proof that this is the way the PN works.

Stability is also vital for economic growth and again this is taken for granted. A large part of the success of the last few years was the fact that decisions were taken on a daily basis and everyone knew who was deciding what. This can only be provided by Labour. The alternative is a coalition where no one knows who will be deciding what. It will be a guarantee of failure. Once we get there, it will be difficult to recapture the present feel good factor. Is it worth taking the risk?

 Let us not give the chance to a group of people whose only aim is to retake what they see as power, which they consider their divine right. They have not changed and once they are back into office they will return to where they stopped four years ago.

The Opposition has spent the last four years in negativism and making allegations. It was in denial and has not used that time to come up with proposals or alternatives.

We are promising to take Gozo to the next leap of quality. The foundations have been put in place. The proposals that were presented last week will see an impressive incentive package for businesses to encourage them to either reallocate their operations to Gozo or start their business here. We will be offering a three-year tax-free programme for those companies that are currently operating in Malta and decide to move to Gozo. More incentives were also announced to encourage companies to offer teleworking opportunities to Gozitan workers. What Simon Busuttil is offering is a grant that he was unable to explain how it would work, who would actually qualify, and his proposal to send the greatest private investment in Gozo packing, leaving the island’s potential in the dark. 

Was this administration perfect? Of course not but the positive results and the successful climate that was achieved by far outweighs the negative aspect.  

I’m not going to list all our achievements. These are well known and have been given enough publicity. But let’s not take things for granted. The economic growth, the boost in tourism, the increase in employment, and the infrastructural projects are just a few of them. The economic well-being was achieved through vision, hard work and by giving everyone the necessary space to work.

Let us take the next step. Let us make Malta and Gozo truly modern societies, where we would be confident that our children's future is brighter than it was for us. 

 

Dr Refalo is Minister for Gozo