Prime Minister Robert Abela issued a rallying cry to voters who are considering abstaining from voting in the upcoming elections on 8 June, saying that they are voting for their quality of lives and that they should not allow the PN to turn the clocks back.

Speaking at the opening of the Labour Party’s General Council in Zejtun on Sunday, Abela said that his party’s aim for the upcoming elections is to give every person a stronger voice.

He contrasted that with the PN, saying that the opposition party wanted to use this election to ready their route to a return to power.

“You heard the PN last week: they want this to be the beginning of the road which will take them back to power.  So much is their thirst for power that they said it with no shame.  They think that 8 June will symbolise a day in which they start their walk back to Castille.  They told us that the PN is here.  They wheeled out Lawrence Gonzi and Simon Busuttil to show this. They want to take the clock back and not forwards,” Abela said.

He said that the country needs to keep moving forward and keep creating opportunities for everyone because what the Labour Party has achieved in government is still the very beginning.

Abela spoke of a visit he conducted at pharmaceutical company Pharmadox Healthcare Ltd, saying that because they found a government and country which believes in them they will be expanding their operations and investing in more equipment and more people.

“You can be as smart, ambitious and have as many dreams as you want, but without a government or a country which believes in you, you won’t make it,” Abela said.  He continued that Malta has the most dynamic economy because the government trusts the Maltese people and businesses, and listens to and incentivises them

Turning to local councils – which are all up for election in June – Abela said that he wants to achieve more synergy between the central government and local councils so projects can be carried out in the most efficient of manners.

To this end, he announced that a programme of “strong assistance” to local councils will be unveiled in the coming days.

He said that the 8 June will be a day of important decisions as people must choose what they want for their communities and who to lead them.

“The PN told us that they want to win a number of important localities – not to improve them or the situation of their communities, but to send a message that they are embarking on the road to take back power. They see the local councils as numbers,” he said.

Abela turned to the topic of war and peace, reminding that everything that is done in Europe and every decision taken there affects people’s lives in Malta.

“You tell me, if we do not push a message of peace but in favour of armaments; what will the consequences be?  We hold neutrality and peace dear – that is the message we always send when we are abroad,” Abela said.

He said that the consequences of the Ukraine War and the conflict in the Middle East are felt most by those in the midst of it, but everyone elsewhere also suffers the consequences everyday.

“There are those who are using the wrong discourse,” Abela said.  “Simon Busuttil said that he wants to arm Europe so those around us are afraid of us – this is not the discourse we want.  You all remember Simon – he told us that he had lit a flame… aside from the fact that it ended up burning himself; but now he wants a blaze which will affect families.  No to arms, yes to peace and neutrality.  Don’t let him use this message in favour of arms to advance his political career in Brussels,” he continued.

He called on people not to allow others to dupe them into thinking that such a narrative will not impact them, and said that every war has wide-reaching consequences, citing the rise in international energy prices as one such consequence.

“We are convinced that an immediate stop to wars in Ukraine and the Middle East is the solution which everybody around the world is expecting,” he said, and added that when he is in Brussels he speaks about things which impact people’s quality of lives such as medicines and the single market, and not tanks.  

Finally Abela also issued a rallying cry to Labour Party supporters to attend the party’s Worker’s Day rally on 1 May, referring to comments by PN leader Bernard Grech wherein he questioned where Malta’s worker’s party was.

“Let us give Bernard Grech an answer as to where the Worker’s Party is.  Day by day, let us work to convince more people of what we can achieve with this country: we will not let anybody turn the clock back, and we will continue to achieve more because that’s what the country deserves,” Abela said.

“Malta and Gozo must come first before everything else,” Abela said, channelling the words of former Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff: “Together we can continue to strengthen our country.”