Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted this afternoon that the next European election was a moment of truth for the “soldiers of steel,” a term originally used to refer to those who voted for the Labour Party when it was under Church interdiction.

Dr Muscat was speaking at a PL mass meeting in Cospicua in which he recalled the first time International Workers’ Day was celebrated in Malta: in 1926, by a group of Labour Party activists in Senglea.

In his address, he repeatedly compared the way those activists had been ridiculed to the way, he said, the Nationalist Party reacted to the Labour Party’s proposals in opposition and actions in government: examples included lowering utility bills and the youth guarantee, along with the fuel price reductions announced yesterday.

After days of hinting that “very good news” was in the offing, Dr Muscat yesterday revealed that this consisted of lowering petrol prices by €0.02 a litre, keeping diesel prices unchanged and lowering the price of a 12kg LPG cylinder by €1.30. The price of petrol and diesel has been locked until the end of the year, while that of LPG has been locked until September.

The PN’s reaction was largely derisory, but Dr Muscat asked the crowd to ask businesses, workers, young car owners and pensioners whether the reductions would make any difference before arguing that the PN had shown how it had lost touch.

Referring to the upcoming European Parliament election, Dr Muscat said that the choice was “between those who do not understand reality and those who feel your pain, between those who laugh when you are unable to cope and those who seek to help at every step, between those who tell you to get accustomed to higher bills and those who reduce them.”

The Prime Minister said that his government may not be perfect, but was working with “positive energy” – a reference to the party’s electoral slogan - to improve the state of the country.

He concluded with an impassioned appeal against abstaining from voting, stating that staying home was “a vote for those who laughed at you when you voted for” lower bills, free childcare, civil liberties and an end to injustices.

Those who were already set to vote for Labour Party candidates, he added, should strive to convince others to do the same.

“Once more, it is the moment of truth for the soldiers of steel,” Dr Muscat maintained.

Dr Muscat also seized the occasion to announce that a monument to former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff – who had coined the term ‘soldiers of steel’ – would be installed in Cospicua, the city he was born in, stating that this monument would help people “remember that this country is greater than its size.”

Busuttil should resign – Toni Abela

The meeting was opened by Labour deputy leader Toni Abela, who observed that the reduction in electricity rates implemented last March had been deemed impossible by the Nationalist Party – a point also made by Dr Muscat later on.

Dr Abela also noted that Dr Muscat had been challenged to resign if he was unable to keep his word on lowering utility tariffs.

Since the tariffs were lowered in the end, he maintained, it was only fair for the person who challenged Dr Muscat to resign – Dr Busuttil – to step down in his stead.

Dr Abela also argued that the PN was hardly one to criticise the government, given its own situation.

“You are incapable of managing your own home... let alone managing a country,” he exclaimed.