Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg said that the PN must be the “catalysts” for change, as he called on the party’s supporters to chase every vote right up until Election Day on Saturday.

Speaking at a party event in Rabat, Borg said that the party’s electoral programme is one which keeps everyone in its thoughts and which aims to improve everyone’s quality of life.

“We have ensured that through different measures you are more comfortable in your life,” Borg said.  He said that the PN’s electoral programme aims to give people opportunity without making the dependent on the government:  “we want to give you the fishing rod so you can be independent, so you can move forward by yourself, and so you have the ability to be autonomous,” he said.

Borg then ran through the party’s electoral measures, starting with the PN’s proposed tax cuts.  He said that the party was proposing cuts to personal income taxes, company taxes, the removal of inheritance tax, and the increase of the VAT exemption threshold for self-employed people.

He continued that the party has also thought of new economic niches which will generate millions which can then be re-invested in the people and in projects that the people will benefit, such as improved infrastructure, and improvements to the health sector where the party is proposing four new hospitals

Borg continued that his party will also reward those who want to work more, and hence promised not to tax the first €10,000 of overtime work.

Moving onto what he called one of the country’s greatest challenges, Borg said that the party had looked at the population issue from both sides.

The first is from the viewpoint of employers who struggle to find local workers and must therefore opt for foreign workers. There, he said, the government needs to reduce bureaucracy so these employers have more accessibility to the workers that they need.

The other side of the coin, though, is what Maltese feel every day – particularly the pressure on the country’s roads, health system, and services as a result of the unchecked increase to the country’s population.

The party, he said, has a clear plan for this by setting up an authority which will be responsible for the country’s population.  This authority will make a plan for the next five to ten years to see how population growth can be managed sustainability, but to also see how the country’s infrastructure can grow and improve in such a manner that it keeps up.

“We need to make investments so that the country’s population is not a burden on its citizens,” he said. 

On traffic, which Borg described as the “normality of the day”, the PN leader said that the government needs a clear plan to solve the issue so people stop wasting their free time in their cars.  The PN, he said, has a clear plan with both short term and medium-to-long term measures that aim to “solve the problem once and for all.”

He described the party’s car licence scheme, saying that it will be completely voluntary.  Under the scheme, any vehicle which is used for less than 500km per year will not be subject to a licence fee, and vehicles which are then used between 500km and 5,000km will be subject to a pro-rata discount based on usage.

The idea behind this, Borg said, is because a car in Malta travels for an average of 7,000km per year – reducing that down to 5,000km would mean less cars on the road for less time.

“This is not to punish you.  We aren’t going to give you money to take away you licence, or give you money to buy a bigger car – which is contradictory in and of itself.  We are giving you a voluntary scheme: either keep paying what you are now, or else start saving,” he said.

The party’s long-term project, he said, is the mass transport system.  “We are not going to spend five more years doing studies.  We still start working on it from Day 1, and in five years we will finish the first and longest line,” he said.

Borg ended his address with a final appeal to his supporters: “Keep running after those last votes; our country is calling us.”

“We need to be the catalysts for change.  I won’t manage to do it alone, we as candidates will not do it alone.  But we are certain that with you, we can achieve it.  Let us go around convincing people until the very last moment,” he said.