Gonzi: 'stop the personal attacks'

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi addressed a boisterous crowd at the PN club in Balzan, in what seemed like a mini mass meeting. Gonzi was welcomed by hundreds of supporters to the sound of fireworks. He called on his supporters to be calm and urged everybody to stop personal attacks against those who disagreed with the PN.

"I urge you to be calm and serene. One can take wrong decisions if such decisions are taken in moments of anger, disappointment and passion," he told his supporters. He reassured the crowd that he "will always take the decisions which are in the country's best interest."

In an obvious reference to recent attacks on Franco Debono,  Gonzi strongly urged everybody to stop personal attacks against anybody in disagreement with the party. "Personal attacks have to stop, even in regards to anybody who does not agree with us and wants to do things differently. We have to respect the dignity of persons."

In recent days Franco Debono has been the target of nasty personal attacks on social networks and blogs. During the PN's parliamentary meeting held on Tuesday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi took a stand on the matter, saying he disagreed with Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia's posts on her blog and that the personal attacks on Franco Debono and his family "are not on". 

"We do not need the attacks because we should never forget that we are a party that believes in values. We won the people's confidence because we showed our worth. During this moment of truth we have to show that we continue to respect a person's dignity, even when that person does not agree with us."

Speaking about the decisive parliamentary committee meeting to be held on Monday Gonzi said he will not say what the PN will do or say. "The less I say the better. I will not give any indications of what we will do tomorrow. Joseph Muscat will know what our intentions are tomorrow"

Gonzi said "We are not bent on power. We are not tied to power but we are tied to confidence people showed in us. We are certainly worried about the internal problems but we cannot forget the external problems. We cannot miss the woods for the trees. If we get it wrong now we will get it very wrong."

At one point Gonzi referred to the internal problems with Franco Debono and described it as a "skalda" (splinter). He said "Compared to bigger problems the country is facing right now, this is only a splinter, which can and has to be resolved in one way or the other. Do not get me wrong, it can go either way. However other problems such as the international financial crisis cannot be resolved so easily."

Gonzi asked the crow what would have happened if his government dealt with serious problems wrongly. "We were very careful with the Libyan conflict. We could have sided with the wrong side as some wanted us to do. What would have happened if we took the bad decision then?"

The PN leader also spoke about the economic situation and said that if the country had not taken difficult and harsh decisions then Malta would have met the same fate of other countries that face grave economic realities.

The Prime Minister defended the notion of GonziPN and said "In GonziPN its PN which comes first." He repeated the famous PN mantra "Is-sewwa jirbaħ żgur" and said he has faith in the party's values.

Gonzi said he came across a statement on BBC which said that the difference between populism and popularity is credibility. "We have always sought after the country's best interests and that is why we have gained our credibility. We have led well in regards to education, tourism, the economy, Libya and many other matters. Have faith in us. We will continue governing well and do what the country requires from us."

Also present at the meeting in Balzan were various ministers and prominent party members. MP Edwin Vassallo received the biggest ovation of all. In his short address, Vassallo said that Joseph Muscat  should not carry out experiments with the country. He said "President George Abela had said that Joseph Muscat does not play fair in elections," in reference to the PL leadership race which was contested by current PL leader Joseph Muscat and current President George Abela.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech spoke about the recent downgrade of Malta's credit rating by Standard and Poor's and said "The world's economic situation has never been so bad. The financial crisis has had a devastating effect on a number of countries. However the crisis did not have a devastating effect on Malta because we had the right recipe. The recipe was GonziPN."

Fenech said "Joseph Muscat is not the answer to the country's instability. He does not have the required experience to be in the driving seat. Only Lawrence Gonzi can guide the country."