Do not risk all we have achieved - Gonzi

What the country achieved in the midst of an economic crisis will be bettered in the next five years, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said this morning.

Speaking to the party faithful in Zurrieq, the PN leader warned the electorate to choose carefully, repeatedly warning the people againt putting everything at risk.

 "The temptation of trying out something new is risky, it could turn out to be a good choice but it could also turn out to be a wrong decision," Gonzi said citing Labour's damned advise to the PN administration to copy the Cypriot economic model, which last year ended asked for a bailout following a massive economic downturn.

"You should protect what we have achieved and not put it at risk," Gonzi added.

He pointed out that in the coming week the PN would be focusing its campaign on health, underlining the party's plans to complete the new oncology hospital and launch a campaign to fight diabetes in the next five years.

The Prime Minister also said that a new PN administration would finance all its plans by generating more wealth and jobs, "securing a solid economy."

In a veiled attack on dissident Nationalist MP Franco Debono who was elected on the fifth electoral district of which Zurrieq makes part, Gonzi thanked all the MPs who "worked for the benefit of the constituents and not for their own personal benefit."

Stressing that the PN had committed mistakes over the years, an upbeat PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil said the party had enough time to make amends, adding "Five weeks are enough to realise what is the difference between Labour and the Nationalist Party and our leader Lawrence Gonzi."

"We don't have a divine right to be in government or to earn your votes. We are aware that we must work for the people's vote. We have worked hard by setting a sound foundation in health, education and creating jobs and in the coming weeks we will continue to persuade the people that we are the best choice," Busuttil said.

Smelling blood, Busuttil turned his sights to former Labour deputy leader Anglu Farrugia's candid interview in which Farrugia said his dismissal from Labour felt like 'calling your best friend over and then shooting him in cold blood. It was political murder.'

The PN deputy leader said: "Farrugia is clearly spelling it out, this is political assassination. It is frightening, they [Labour] have done this while in Opposition, let alone what they'll do when in government."

"If Labour is ready to politically murder its own deputy leader what will it do to the rest of us? We cannot trust Labour with our future," Busuttil added.

Forgetting his own party's connections with construction magnates, Busuttil went on to quote Farrugia's claim that Labour is no longer a worker's party but has become a "contractors' party." A bellicose Busuttil said that Labour's MEPA reform would not benefit the people but the powerful construction lobby.

Earlier, Beppe Fenech Adami, PN candidate and son of former PN leader Eddie Fenech Adami said: "We are the original Nationalist Party, while Labour is a fake copy, a counterfeit Nationalist Party which can never offer the same guarantees the original Nationalist Party offers."

He added that during the campaign voters were asking him, "Why should I vote PN again of for the first time? Everyone should vote PN because one error will cost us dear and all the sacrifices the country has done to get to where we are would be in vain, one error will throw our future down the drain. The PN is the only party guarantee which can guarantee a safe and secure future."

Branding Labour a "catch-up party," foreign minister Francis Zammit Dimech  explained that the Opposition had got it wrong on a number of occasion such as EU membership, introducing the Euro and the Libyan conflict, only to realise that the PN was right from day one.

"What if Labour is in government? It will not be able to catch-up with us or copy us. Wrong decisions would derail the whole country," Zammit Dimech said. 

The Sliema MP added that although Labour "might be prepared more then ever before for the electoral campaign, they have never been so unprepared to govern the country."