Barely two weeks have passed since we joined the euro zone. This is definitely a big achievement for our country; Malta the smallest country in the EU has the second strongest currency in the world.
Three years ago when Lawrence Gonzi was appointed Prime Minister, he made it clear that by January 2008 Malta had to join the euro zone area. Many were sceptical then; many thought that Malta would never manage to make it. Time proved Lawrence Gonzi right. The NECC have done a great job and, notwithstanding the doom and gloom campaign by the MLP, the people are getting used to the euro. The euro, as Prime Minister Gonzi correctly put it, is not about coins but about jobs. Malta in the euro zone is proof enough that our finances are in order and the economy on a sound footing. Time will prove that after EU membership, joining the euro zone was the next best thing that could happen to tiny Malta. Let’s work together to make this success even greater for the benefit of all.
People of my generation are lucky enough to have witnessed some very significant achievements in the past few years. In 2004 Malta joined the EU and today not only is our coffer €855million richer but we have an equal say around the table, the same as the big boys and girls. A new state-of-the art hospital was inaugurated and we, the younger generation, witnessed it; definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Then Malta changed its currency and adopted the euro, the second strongest currency in the world. Three huge achievements that we were all lucky enough to witness. All this thanks to the vision of the Nationalist Party in government. Let’s face it, had it been up to Labour Malta would still be out of the EU trying hard, and in vain, to come up with some special alternative to membership. Had it been up to Labour the Mater Dei Hospital would never have been and in the 21st century we would be treating our patients in a shabby, old and outdated hospital. And had it been up to Labour the euro would have been just a dream. Today Labour tries hard to make us forget the recent past but our memories are not that short.
People of my generation were lucky enough to have witnessed, experienced and benefited from a silent revolution in the education sector. Thousands of students, coming from different backgrounds, today mingle together in lecture halls at university, MCAST, ITS and government/private schools and sixth forms. Not only are we given a free, highly specialized education but we are also paid to study. We are the envy of students in countries like France, Germany, the UK and Italy. This too did not happen by mere coincidence; it was, is, and will remain thanks to the vision of the Nationalist Party in government led by Eddie Fenech Adami and recently by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
We, the younger generation, look forward to more success in this New Year. Jobs, new jobs are going to be created, thanks to the huge investment in infrastructure and education. Malta, our Malta, has and will continue to attract the big names in the IT and financial services sectors, which on their part will invest their money here and create new and sustainable jobs. Smart City, to mention but one example, will take shape in this New Year.
The future looks promising. Later on, the people of Malta, including the younger generation, will have to decide whether to improve on this or take a leap into the dark where their future would be at stake. I find it hard to believe that the younger generation, which overwhelmingly voted in favour of Malta joining the EU, will now undo all that has been achieved for their benefit in the past three years. I find it hard to believe that the younger generation will let themselves be influenced by the prophets of doom and gloom.
I know young people, they are by nature optimistic.