Gonzi will decide in party and country’s best interest if PN loses – Beppe Fenech Adami

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi would take the decision in the PN and country's best interest if faced by electoral defeat, Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami said in reply to a question on Gonzi's announcement that he would not tender his resignation.

Citing former PN leader and his father Eddie Fenech Adami's decision to resign as party leader in the wake of the 1996 election, only to go and be re-elected Prime Ministewr two years later, Beppe Feench Adami said that Gonzi's decision hinges on what happens on 9 March.

Speaking during a press conference this afternoon, the MP said: "If the PN loses the election, the Prime Minister will either resign immediately after the election, or resign after a while, it all depends on the circumstances which we do not know yet. He will surely take the decision in the party and country's best interests."

Asked why the PN government had shelved the party financing law drafted by dissident Nationalist MP Franco Debono, Fenech Adami shifted the blame on the Opposition, saying that Labour's proposal to introduce state financing was unacceptable.

"Frankly, I just do not care what Franco Debono said on party financing, the law was never approved because Labour's simplistic solution was not adequate."

Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami pointed out the difference between the PN's ability to create new jobs and attract investment and the Labour Party's track record in government.

"Labour's short sting in government in 1996 resulted in unemployment and layoffs. Labour managed to destroy the country's economy. Six jobs were lost everyday of Labour's permanence in government between 1996 and 1998, with unemployment reaching the 10,000 mark," Fenech Adami said.

He added that a number of protagonists from the last Labour government are at the forefront of Labour's current team of candidates. These include, Marie Louise Coleiro, Karmenu Vella and Leo Brincat, Fenech Adami noted.

However, Labour's blunders are not limited to its last stay in power, the MP said, stressing Labour leader Joseph Muscat's advice to model the Maltese economy on Cyprus and noting that Spanish former Prime Minister Zapatero was Muscat's idol.

Fenech Adami explained that both countries, led by Socialist governments, ended up facing excruciating economic woes, which resulted in unprecedented levels of unemployment and both countries were bailed out by the EU.

"I have full confidence in our young people who ralise and understand that this is not the time for experiments and that the Labour Party has no plans and would land the country in an economic mess," Fenech Adami said.

Two other PN candidates, Edwin Vassallo and Claudette Buttigieg were also present at the press conference.

New PN candidate, Claudette Buttigieg, explained that a new PN government would introduce a number of measures to encourage more women to join the work force, underpinning the PN's plans to expand childcare services, allow parents to use their sick leave to tend to their children and introduce a number of measures to encourage women to take up new jobs.

Edwin Vassallo explained that during the last five years, the PN administration had created 20,300 new jobs, with significant growth registered in a number of areas including, accounting, financial services, pharmaceuticals, health services, managerial positions, services, clerical positions, gaming, IT and education

Quoting the Labour Force Survey published on 8 January, the Mosta MP said: "we have created jobs and today we have a record in jobs. Behind every job there is an individual and a family," adding that the creation of jobs with better conditions had improved the people's quality of life.

Singing his leader's praises, Vassallo said: "Lawrence Gonzi is tried and tested, he proved that in the midst of an international financial crisis, he created thousands of new jobs."