The next five years will be a crucial time for the country.

In a world that is becoming more competitive every day and at a time when the international markets are putting great pressure on the economy through the rising price of oil and cereals, Malta needs to have a sense of direction.

The country has always suffered because of its small size and its lack of natural resources. There have been good times and bad times. But on the whole the country has not only managed to survive, but in recent years made great leaps ahead to place among the best performing economies of the European Union. It did so because it knew where it was going.

Yet it cannot rest on its laurels and think that everything will be plain-sailing. If anything, matters stand to become more difficult. Therefore the country needs to be led by a government that will be able to guide it through the various tribulations it will encounter, a government that is able to use the resources available to the best of abilities, a government that is not afraid to take difficult decisions in the interest of the common good.

It must be a government that has confidence in the people and their abilities. Malta’s only assets are its human resources, and they must be utilised to the maximum, albeit always with respect to human dignity and rights.

The next five years are also the time when Malta will be utilising the E855 million that it will be earning from its European Union membership. The way this money will be spent will go a long way to make the island a better place to live in.

The government that the people will elect must therefore be a government that is accountable for its actions. Both political parties accuse each other of having wasted the people’s money in projects that overran the initial costs. The MLP repeatedly says that the PN was not careful with the way it spent the people’s money over the past 10 years, with the PN countering with its own list of projects which cost more than the initial predictions under a Labour government.

And this is why the people must be careful in the choice they will be making on 8 March. They must elect a government that will be using the e855 million coming from the EU in the best interests for Malta.

Incidentally, these E855 million need to be spent until 2013, which is the time when the next election will be due. Therefore the government that will be elected this time round will need to deliver the goods in the next five years if it would like to stand a chance of being re-elected in 2013.

The funds that have been derived from the EU were not obtained easily. This means that the country must be careful in the way they are spent. We cannot afford to throw this money down the drain.

The EU countries that spend European funds in the best way possible will be the countries that will be developing the most. Since joining the EU, Malta has made important strides forward in certain sectors, while more was expected in others. The way this money will be utilised will help put Malta on a sounder footing not only when it is compared to the advances made in other EU member states, but also when compared to other growing economies around the world.

The next five years will be crucial. It will be a period of time during which Malta must consolidate what it has achieved since becoming an EU member in 2004. Malta cannot afford to lag behind, and any wrong decision that it takes will have serious repercussions on the economic and political well-being of the country.