The European Socialist Party (PES) gathering in Malta last week was a feather in the Malta Labour Party’s cap, but the Nationalist Party, through its media, was intelligent enough to make the most of it too.

On the one hand, the holding of such a high-profile event on the eve of an election gave the MLP the chance to use it as a build-up for its annual general conference, which finalised the party’s plans for the upcoming election campaign.

On the other hand, the PN media was sharp to pick on the different views held by the MLP and the PES on matters of great political and economic importance to Malta, such as the introduction of the euro, and used them to their advantage.

Outwardly, the MLP has changed its stand on Malta’s European membership, but the way top party officials speak, sometimes leads many to think that, if they had the opportunity, the MLP would backtrack and go for the partnership with the EU it strongly advocated in the run-up towards the 2003 referendum.

Likewise, it may have publicly said that it would go along with the changeover from the Maltese lira to the euro, albeit with reservations with regard to the timing, but at the same time on many occasions it gave the game away by making statements that go against such a concept.

It happened again when MLP acting leader Charles Mangion spoke about Malta and the eurozone in a meeting with the PES last week. He could not stop himself from repeating, in front of his foreign counterparts, that the MLP was sceptical about the government’s decision and that it is leading to hardships for the Maltese people.

The problem was that the PES officials present think otherwise, and the president of the European Socialists himself, Martin Schulz, said that Malta’s switchover to the euro opened up new opportunities and will be beneficial to the country as a whole. He said that the decision to join the eurozone was the best the country could have taken. The clip shown on NET TV could not have been clearer.

Of course, this spurred the PN to take full advantage of the situation. Statements were issued and comments were taken from Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi himself to expose the MLP as trying to work against Malta while foreigners were praising the progress the country has made. In one such statement, the PN said that the MLP should be ashamed of trying to ridicule Malta while foreigners defended it.

In a nutshell, the PN took political advantage of the fact that the MLP tried to portray a negative image of Malta in the presence of foreigners it was hosting here, something that the MLP should have avoided.

This is the kind of mistake that the MLP must keep away from if it wants to earn credibility with the electorate, particularly that of the neutral voters. Such errors do give the impression that the MLP is not confident in the capabilities of the Maltese people. Worse, it shows that while the MLP tries to show that it has changed its stand (on the EU) or accepts the situation (on the euro), it still harbours thoughts that it would have done things in a different way, given the chance.

The MLP lost the EU referendum and the subsequent election because of its opposition to the European Union and all that comes with it. It has said it has moved on, but mistakes such as the ones committed last week lead to doubts that could only be harmful to the MLP’s aspirations to win the election.