Next Saturday ‘a choice between the political leaders’

As Malta goes to the polls on Saturday to elect the six candidates that will represent it in the European Parliament for the next five years, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has made a clear call to his grassroots: it is a moment of choice between himself and Simon Busuttil.

Addressing the last in a series of activities organised by the Labour Party, Muscat told his constituents that the 24 May elections are “a choice between a party stuck in the past and a movement that looks ahead”.

“It is also a moment of choice between the leaders of the political parties. This government comes before you to be judged because we don’t fear a challenge,” Muscat said.

Describing the Opposition as growing negative by the day, Muscat urged the electorate to vote for all Labour candidates.

“Give us the courage to continue what we have started. Even what Busuttil is doing impacts lives: he abstained on civil unions, he hides from declaring his position on spring hunting and he has presented an opposition which has nothing to offer.”

The activity in Zurrieq was also addressed by candidates Fleur Vella and Miriam Dalli and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici.

On Tuesday, the Nationalist Party called an urged meeting of the public accounts committee to discuss the next steps as it insists on the publication of the contract signed between the government and Individual Investor Programme (IIP) concessionaries Henley & Partners.

The call was made after Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia ruled that the PAC was empowered to demand that the contract be published and scrutinised by the committee. In an immediate reaction, the government said it will be publishing all information in due time, excluding commercially sensitive information.

Addressing the crowds gathered in Zurrieq, Bonnici did not make any reference to the Henley contract. However, he questioned the interest two unnamed PN MEP candidates enjoyed in a company – Arton Capital – that is challenging the government over the choice of Henley & Partners.

“Since Simon Busuttil appears to have ethics at heart, and since he spent the past year criticizing the IIP, how politically ethical is it that two of his candidates defend and have an interest in a company that came second and is now challenging the government because it didn’t win the contract?

“If this company had won the contract, would he have said the programme was good?”

Bonnici said that while the Opposition this week “chose to attack” the IIP, the one thing people will not forget is how Malta was attacked in the European Parliament.

“When faced by a choice, the Nationalist MEPs chose to act against our country. People will not forget that the PN chose to score political points in the moment of truth.”

According to Bonnici, people with Nationalist backgrounds were telling the government they wanted “to work and help make the programme a success”.

Firing up the audience before Muscat’s intervention, Bonnici said Simon Busuttil had backed away when Muscat “challenged him in the field”.

“How can you not vote for Joseph Muscat… a leader with a backbone? Be with us as we continue changing the face of this country,” he said.