Dr Lawrence Gonzi took over the leadership of the Nationalist Party and of the government at one of the most important crossroads for the country.

Malta was about to join the European Union, and the country could look forward to a bright future. The Nationalist Party, led by Dr Eddie Fenech Adami, had been working towards this aim for many years, but it was Dr Gonzi who was Prime Minister on 1 May 2004 – the day Malta became an EU member state.

At the time, little did Dr Gonzi know however that taking over the prime ministership, as well as Malta’s EU membership, would coincide with a difficult period for Malta – in economic terms – and that stiff measures needed to be put in place to get Malta back in line.

Dr Gonzi took the bull by the horns, was not afraid to take unpopular decisions, and the country overcame that hurdle. Malta’s economic problems have not been resolved completely, but the country is now in a much better situation than it was when Dr Gonzi became prime minister.

It all happened in three years, but these same three years were not so rosy for the Nationalist Party. In this time of difficulty, the Malta Labour Party took advantage of the situation and won three local council elections in a row. It had never happened since local councils came into being in 1993. Added to this, the PN also lost the European Parliament elections, winning two seats to Labour’s three.

As it happened, Dr Gonzi has still to lead his party to an electoral victory. While the party is now concentrating on the coming local council elections in March, its main target is however to win the general election, due to be held late this year or early the next.

It is not an easy task.

The PN has been in government for 18 of the last 20 years, and although it has rejuvenated itself over the years, there is still an underlying perception that the country needs a change, and that this change could only mean a Labour government. It is now up to the PN to prove otherwise.

With the European Union membership issue now a closed chapter, so far there appear to be no real issues that divide the country. Labour has accepted Malta’s entry into the eurozone too, and therefore what will matter most in the coming general election are the bread and butter issues.

Labour continues to bank on cost of living matters, saying that people’s standard of living has deteriorated because of higher taxes and prices that are eating away at families’ well-being. For its part, the PN insists that people have never had it so good and that the economy has now bounced back to enable them to live a better life.

Yet the crucial aspect of the 2007/2008 election will be whether the PN will manage to convince the people that, after winning four of the last five elections, it is still forward-looking and fresh enough to continue leading the country.

It will have to persuade the people that its policies are still better than those of the Labour Party, which with so much time in opposition, has had the opportunity to deploy all of its resources to put pressure on the government as well as come up with its own plans which, it thinks, are better than those of the PN.

The PN has the arduous task of trying to convince the electorate that, now that Malta has started to benefit so well from its EU membership, membership that only the PN fought so hard for, it should give the PN yet another chance to continue building on what has been achieved so far.

Dr Gonzi has so far lost all polls since he became PN leader and prime minister. But a general election is a totally different story.