The Malta Labour Party yesterday held three fringe meetings in preparation for its annual general meeting due to start tomorrow.
The conference shall have before it three motions for discussion and approval and their themes will be the family, social security and a better quality of life.
The fringe meetings were attended by Labour delegates as well as numerous experts. High profile members from the Party of European Socialists were also present.
During yesterday’s sessions, the motion ‘Ensuring a change in quality of life’ was discussed by Labour deputy leader for party affairs Michael Falzon. Among the experts invited for the sessions were economist Edward Scicluna and former Sea Malta chairman Marlene Mizzi.
Scicluna said the need for an improvement in quality of life rested on Malta becoming productive enough to increase its competitiveness, which would ultimately ensure salaries which can reflect an improvement in standard of living.
Mizzi said Labour’s proposal for better education would reinforce human resources, adding that the country needed a more efficient leadership from people who believe in accountability and who would make a better use of public funds.
The meeting was also addressed by PES deputy chairman Haanes Svoboda, who talked about the importance of strong investment in primary education as the base for a country’s future resources, as well as the need for added investments in research, science, innovation and technology.
In a separate meeting of PES executives which was held yesterday, MLP acting leader Charles Mangion said economic growth, the strengthening of education, and transparency in leadership would be Labour’s three main priorities if elected to government.
“The Maltese and Gozitans will choose a Labour government, not only because of the negative record of the Nationalist government, but because Labour’s plans will bring a great leap in quality of life.”
Mangion said families had to contend with a diminishing purchasing power, and that 42% of students were leaving schools without their required qualifications. “The increase in employment in our country is much smaller than the rest of the EU. We have the lowest rate of female participation in the workforce anywhere in the EU.”
The PES meeting in Malta includes the leader of the European Socialists in the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, and former Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, head of the PES.
Labour leader Alfred Sant is expected to make his first official appearance in an address to party delegates on Sunday, on the last day of the party’s general conference. Sant underwent major surgery in December but he is expected to return to centre-stage shortly.
The general conference, the last one prior to the general election, brings to a finale its campaign in the past three years and a half of consultation meetings with stakeholders and social partners to formulate its ‘Plan for a New Beginning’ manifesto.