Borg prepares PN for ‘internal challenges’

Deputy prime minister Tonio Borg has warned the PN's general council to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.

"Some of these will also be internal," he said, seemingly referring to backbencher's Franco Debono retaliation and the motion of censure - yet to see whether it will become one of resignation -  in home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici.

"But we form part of the oldest party ... a party which has suffered and knows what it means to suffer for what it stands for. We are not going to give up. This suffering will encourage us and prepare us for the big battle [elections] whenever it comes," Borg said.

"Nothing broke the PN in the past. And nothing will break us today. We are the party built on commitment, the suffering, on the hard work of those who came before us and the aspirations of the people today."

Borg told his audience to be "courageous" because the PN believed in the people.

At the beginning of his speech, Borg also paid tribute to President Emeritus Censu Tabone who passed away in March. Borg said Tabone had been a gentleman, who served with humility both the party and the country.

Borg went on to hail government's work in the past four years and said that despite all the turmoil in Libya and the economic crisis, the Nationalist government had worked hard to keep the country thriving.

"We managed to do this despite the opposition we faced, at times unfair, by those who play for political gains," he said.

Borg said everyone recognised government's positive results, "even those who are not capable of publicly admitting it".

As he recounted the results achieved in education and employment sectors, Borg said the PN didn't need to give guarantees to convince the electorate of its policies: "The PN doesn't need to give any guarantees: in politics, the past is the guarantee for the future."

Borg went on to say that the Opposition has become "obsessed" with winning the elections.

"This is dangerous as being obsessed with something leads you nowhere. Labour is promising everything to everyone without putting forward actual proposals.

"We want to win not only because this country's alternative would be a lesser choice, but also because we have proved over and over again that a Nationalist government obtains results," Borg said.

Referring to the Opposition motion calling for the resignation of Malta's permanent representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana, Borg said how could Labour accuse government of treason if even they were in favour of the Partnership for Peace?

Labour has accused Cachia Caruana - and government - of going behind parliament's back when Malta's membership was approved without consulting parliament first.

"Treason is not doing what's best for the country. Treason is signing a secret agreement with North Korea," he said, referring to the agreement signed between a Labour government and North Korea in 1982, for the exchange of arms and military training.