Prime Minister wants to live in a liberal Malta

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat wants to live in a liberal country where the state doesn’t interfere in how an individual live his life.

Ending the second day of EP elections campaigning with an interview on ONE TV, Muscat said the government wanted to tackle the decriminalisation of drugs now.

“I’ve had enough of watching youths end up in prison instead of being helped to get over their addictions. Drug dealers should be punished,” he added.

The Labour leader said the government would not reinvent the wheel and there were international best practices that would be followed.

“We have informally consulted and discussed the issue with individuals and organizations who work with victims of drug abuse and those who, like Caritas, help with their rehabilitation,” he said.

Muscat added that these organisations had longed called for the decriminalisation of certain drugs “but others feared implemented it”.

After dominating the day’s headlines, Muscat was once again asked about abortion. He reiterated that the government was against legalising abortion.

“I’m not at all surprised that the Opposition has played the abortion card, something it always does during every election... but it also reassures me that the Opposition have nothing better to talk about.”

In a clear attempt to address the Labour grassroots, Muscat said the government would give people what they are owed.

“Justice was done with many; others are still waiting. Every case will be addressed. It doesn’t mean that everyone would be right in his complaint. But we will analyse every individual case.”

Muscat said he understood how waiting another year would seem too much after waiting 25 years. He acknowledged that Labour supporters felt “hurt” at how individuals thrived under both the PN and Labour administrations: “In reality, this dispels the Opposition’s claims that only Labour supporters were thriving.”

He urged the supporters to consider and judge whether Malta was better off a year after Labour was elected to power.

Lauding the “strong group of candidates” Labour was putting forward, Muscat insisted that, being in government, did not place the party at an advantage.