Prime Minister Robert Abela promised a “solid Budget which reflects the realities of today” as he addressed party delegates at the closing of the Labour Party’s General Conference.
Abela said that the Budget will be “responsible” and will give “everything that is needed, where it is needed.” He named two new measures that will feature in the Budget, but avoided any mention of the so-called €1,000 ‘Super Bonus’ that was a key electoral pledge and that may not feature come 26 October.
Opening his speech at the party’s headquarters, Abela first thanked the 32 people who contested for a place on the party’s executive and congratulated those who were elected.
Ray Azzopardi, Ġuża Cassar, George Azzopardi, Jason Farrugia, Jason Micallef, Ray Falzon, Nolan Camilleri, Rosette Cassar, David Caruana, Wayne Sammut, Jessica Schembri, and Fiona Borg Lewis were the candidates elected after 92% of the party’s delegates voted.
Abela said that the party’s electoral victory last May had given it a clear mandate with a clear sense of direction that nobody has a right to undermine.
The Labour Party leader and Prime Minister said that he was going to be frank in how he spoke about the international situation happening around Malta and about how, with realism, the party’s manifesto will be implemented.
He said that those against them and “their peripheral allies” have always tried to foment discontent in order to undermine the country’s economy. “They did not manage back then, they did not manage today, and they will not manage tomorrow,” Abela said.
“You must love your country to lead it, not love power,” he said, adding that for the Labour Party, it’s Malta that comes first.
He dedicated a portion of his speech to his government’s energy politics, noting first and foremost that Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had put a cap on fuel prices, something that he described as a good decision, but one that his government had taken years ago.
He said that even with that cap, one can pay up to €1 per litre more than the €1.21 one would pay per litre for diesel in Malta – and noted that the cap is only guaranteed for a month, with the possibility of being extended until the end of the year.
“We made it 7 cents cheaper and kept it the same. We made electricity cheaper 10 years ago, and kept it the same,” Abela said.
“I am not saying this to boast, but because I believe that this stability is the main measure that is giving confidence and optimism to families to continue to consume, and to businesses to keep investing. It is a stability which automatically results in peace of mind that the government is going to be there for you, whatever the circumstances may be,” he said.
Abela spoke of speeches from international leaders in New York, at the United Nations, saying that many leaders spoke of the collapse of international law, of humanitarian crises in Gaza, of never-before-seen oil price increases, of wars and the threat of more war, and of how countries – even in Europe – are investing in arms and in defence.
“We will not do this. We are the complete opposite: we will continue to invest in you, and we can do this because when the moment of truth arrived, you recognised the signs of the time and recognised who can offer truly focused leadership for our country,” he said.
Does this mean that it’s all plain sailing, Abela rhetorically asked. “That we can throw money around at will?” Abela said that he would be irresponsible if he did that.
“Does that mean we’re in a crisis? Absolutely not, in fact it’s because we are giving things thought and we are speaking about realistic politics,” he said.
Abela said that the Nationalist Party does not have a clue of what is going on around them, and that their only reaction is by relying on partisan, populist, and parochial politics. “That’s all the can do, and it reflects the mediocrity and incompetence within then Parliamentary Group,” he said.
Abela continued that the people will never hear him say that something that was promised will not be fulfilled. “Even if there is a storm 10 times bigger than that of today, the manifesto will always be done. There are five years for it, and we will be responsible so that manifesto is implemented in its entirety,” he said.
He said that the politics in countries such as Germany mirrors that politics that Malta experienced 13 years ago when the Nationalist Party was in government, adding that “it is crucial to remind our youths who did not experience this.”
“The government created austerity and the burden was shouldered by those who had the least means. The country dried up,” he said.
He said that the government will keep the country’s finances “as solid as they are”, with the deficit below 3%.
“On 26th October [the day of the Budget announcement], we will give everything that is needed, where it is needed – but we will do this by taking responsible decisions. We will have a solid budget which reflects the realities of today,” Abela said.
Abela named two measures that will be in the Budget.
The first is that widows will receive the full pension their spouses were entitled to. At the moment, widows receive two-thirds of the pensions of their deceased spouse. The second measure will see young people with behavioural difficulties who undergo a period of rehabilitation following a court order granted social security contribution credits for two years.
“This is our socialist soul,” Abela said.
He said that a strong economy solves everything, and that economic growth must continue – that is the mandate that he has been given, he said.
Concluding, Abela said that the Budget will continue to push families, youths, the elderly, workers, the middle class, and businesses in the right direction: forward, together.
‘We cannot pretend we heard nothing,’ PL President says on Fenech jury trial
The General Conference was also addressed by, among others, Labour Party President Alex Sciberras, who warned delegates that the party cannot pretend to have heard nothing from what emerged during the trial against Yorgen Fenech.
Fenech was acquitted of complicity and conspiracy in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia by an 8-1 jury verdict in a marathon trial which shined a light on close relationships between Fenech and the seat of power.
“I will not comment on any verdict but we cannot pretend that we heard nothing. What we heard does not reflect this party… defending the party does not mean defending all that is done in the party’s name,” Sciberras said.
However, he said that the testimony was not a reflection of the work of the party and of its volunteer activist and members. They “should not be made to shoulder that burden,” he said.
“We are not infallible and we should not be scared of this. Similarly, we should not be scared to listen and discuss with those who do not agree with us,” he said.
Among those who also addressed the General Conference was Home Affairs Minister Glen Bedingfield, MP Romilda Zarb, PL CEO Ivan Falzon, and former MP Jose Herrera.