Prime Minister Robert Abela called on Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech to change his tone, and warned supporters “not to fall for provocation” and to keep a sense of calm.

Abela was speaking at a Labour Party activity on the campaign trail in Gharghur on Monday when he was asked about the interview host about the PN’s protest which was organised outside Parliament.

“The PN is looking for a confrontation with the people, not with us,” Abela said.

He said that this is the “worst strategy” which one can have when one is faced with people who value a sense of national unity.  “Then you go and speak about a ‘holy war’  against the people… this is language that I cannot understand, let alone bring myself to even think about saying,” Abela said.

Abela continued that the style of politics that people respond to is that of unity, noting that the Labour government had the wisdom to remove partisan blinkers and build on what successive governments did for the good of the whole Maltese people.

“But then you have the PN which reacts, again, by instigating a style of confrontational politics.  When faced with this style, I appeal for calm.  Don’t you dare allow yourself to fall for provocation,” he told supporters.

“From what I’m informed his speech was like and his attitude in Parliament today, Bernard Grech needs to understand the responsibility in his role and shoulder the responsibility of the dangerous message he is sending with his behaviour,” Abela said.

He said that the Labour Party had learnt since the times of Alfred Sant to exude a message of calm, and this is what it will continue to do, but he invited Grech to do one thing: “Change your tone.”

He called on voters to use their vote to “send a clear message to those who are trying to sow hate and tell them that this style of politics from many years ago is now what you want.”

During the activity, Abela also announced a new initiative relating to IVF which the government has now entered into with the private sector.

He said that since the government had fulfilled its initial IVF promise in the first 100 days of this mandate, the waiting list for the service at Mater Dei Hospital had begun to accumulate, leaving a number of prospective parents waiting time that they cannot afford to wait.

With this in mind, Abela said, the government had decided that it will join forces with the private sector to offer IVF procedures there as well and to cut the waiting list.

“This is another measure where we are showing that our heart beats in the right place,” Abela said.