The Party of European Socialists yesterday convened in Malta for a round of meetings, with Malta Labour Party acting leader Charles Mangion, making a speech in which he outlined the MLP’s strategy once elected to government in the coming national elections.
Dr Mangion was delivering one of the opening speeches to the PES bureau meetings, held at the Westin Dragonara. The meeting brought together heads of delegation from all around Europe within the socialist arena.
Dr Mangion told the PES delegation that, in the next few weeks, the people of Malta will be given the opportunity to change the way this country is being governed, guaranteeing a fairer and more decent future for themselves.
He said the MLP believed they would get the people’s nod, not only because the Nationalist government had mismanaged the country for so long, but also because the opposition’s plans were more pragmatic and would soon bring significant improvements to their quality of life.
He said that Malta had been an EU member for almost four years, but that the full benefits of membership have not been reaped. “If we had been more focused in tackling the social and economic priorities which are critical success factors, more could have been achieved,” he said.
Dr Mangion said that the rush by the PN administration to meet the 1995 Maastricht criteria, produced some short-term financial successes, but at a great social and economic cost.
“The standard of living of our families, as measured by the criteria of GDP per capita, has fallen by 4.5 per cent between 2002 and the end of 2007, and Eurostat is predicting a further decline in 2008,” he said.
He added that in 2002, Malta’s GDP per capita was 79.9 per cent of the EU average and went down to 76.3 per cent in 2007, and is again expected to fall to 75.9 per cent this year.
Other indicators which are of major concern to the MLP, he said, were related to the low educational achievement of Maltese people. “42 per cent of our young people are leaving the education system without proper education and skills, making them practically unemployable,” he said.
He also pointed a finger at the government over employment in relation to the Lisbon Agenda, saying that between 2000 and 2006, employment only rose by 1.1 per cent compared to the EU average of 3.7 per cent.
Female employment in Malta in 2006 was only 34.9 per cent, the lowest in the EU, which has an average of 57.2 per cent, said Dr Mangion.
The acting Labour leader said that the opposition was taking these flashing red lights very seriously. “We will make education our top priority, and we will also implement fiscal measures to encourage workers to work more and become more productive,” he said.
He said the MLP in government would implement system checks to ensure that the current scenario of waste and abuse of public funds is turned around and that taxpayers get full value for their contributions.
Dr Mangion thanked the PES for choosing Malta to hold its meetings and said he wished it to be a successful convention. MLP spokesman for EU Affairs George Vella also spoke and by and large, spoke on the same lines as Dr Mangion.
PES chairman Martin Schulz wished MLP leader Alfred Sant a swift recovery and return to business.