The Labour Party’s proposal that the chairman of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) is given the rank of a minister, allowing him to sit on Cabinet meetings connected to the council’s business is another confirmation that the Labour Party will be a government of all the talents.

Dr Sant is quite right to underline that by empowering the MCESD president, the council will have a pro-active participation, by bringing together the proposals of the government and the constituted bodies in a strategic alignment. Indeed a pledge to govern beyond narrow political interests.

In the past months, the social partners expressed disappointment over the lack of consultation saying the MCESD meeting had been reduced to a mere rubber-stamping exercise. Moreover, they were dismayed at the comments made by Minister Austin Gatt when he said that the social partners were looking just at their sectoral interests.

Truth is that all social partners give a valid contribution within the MCESD and all act predominantly in the national interest.

It seems that finally the Labour Party has the “new ideas and vision” to ignite in the Maltese people the hope that change can bring.

Josef Cachia

Hamrun