The International Secretary of the Malta Labour Party, Dr Alex Sceberras Trigona organized

the annual exchange of new year greetings with the Diplomatic Corps on behalf of the

Partit Laburista on 20 January at the Hotel Fortina.

It was Dr Sceberras Trigona who started this practice when he was Foreign Minister years ago, having found it highly beneficial as a reference point and a great opportunity for the Diplomatic Corps to learn about the Opposition’s alternative foreign policy.

This year a record number of non-resident diplomats came over to Malta purposely for the occasion because of the political if not also constitutional crisis here in mid-January. All ambassadors showed they had been following the evolving crisis very closely. 

The Partit Laburista is keen on developing relations “with the world all around us on a 360 degrees basis, instead of over-emphasising relations with one segment alone,” the International Secretary said in his speech. He further commented: “Besides carrying out the traditional diplomatic functions of observation, making representations and negotiations there is above all the duty of every diplomat to promote friendship with the receiving State as a whole. We are already showing our sincere commitment to fulfill this duty even now from the Opposition and look forward to seeing this amicably reciprocated.”

In his speech, the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Joseph Muscat spoke on the Arab Spring “and what historians may one day term the economic autumn, not only in the Eurozone but across much of the globe. The economic and democratic challenges are there for everyone to understand, to face and to address.” He went on to say that people are demanding “a better, a fairer and a more equitable road ahead for us all. The people are speaking and it is incumbent on us all in the coming year to listen, to act and to bring about the developments that are needed to address the people’s demands.” Dr Muscat referred to the presidential elections in the US, France and China; the further enlargement of the EU with the membership of Croatia; to the new democracies in the Arab world and to Syria. “Closest to home the stability and the financial health of the Eurozone is of the utmost importance to us in Malta and Gozo, and we augur that the measures taken will create more stability in this area. We favour the Fiscal Pact as a positive development. On the other hand we draw a red line at the Financial Transaction Tax and the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base.” Dr Muscat then spoke of Malta’s role in the coming year; to the Five plus Five, the Euro Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly and the Malta based Parliamentary Assembly for the Mediterranean; to Malta’s relations to China, Russia and the USA; to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Dr Muscat ended his speech as follows: “2012 will be another year of choices for us too and we augur that we will all focus on those national issues: more fairness, a more equitable distribution of wealth and full respect for the spirit of democracy in its truest form.”