Robert Abela tells Labour supporters: ‘We are the movement of love and peace’

Robert Abela emphasised Malta’s neutrality and its commitment towards peace and reconciliation in a speech to Labour Party supporters at an event commemorating Freedom Day.

At the annual gathering at the foot of the Freedom Day monument in Birgu, Abela told supporters the PL was the “movement of love and peace” as he took veiled digs at the Nationalist Party and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

“You work for peace when you bring people to the negotiating table; not by asking for tanks of war,” Abela said with reference to the prevalent debate across the EU in favour of more defence spending of which Metsola is a proponent.

“For a long time, when we believed that never again will there be war in our neighbourhood, there were those who did not understand the importance of peace, neutrality and stability,” Abela said, adding that today’s circumstances proved the importance of what it means to be “a free Malta, a neutral Malta and a Malta of reconciliation”.

Robert Abela was taken by surprise when a protestor briefly interrupted his speech as party ushers rushed to remove the person

At one point the Prime Minister was interrupted by a protestor who lamented the loss of neutrality. Abela was taken by surprise and called for calm as party ushers rushed to remove the man. For a few seconds the live Facebook feed panned onto the monument.

Turning to the 8 June European Parliament election, the Prime Minister insisted that the quest for peace was what will distinguish the PL from its political adversaries.

“This is what makes us what we are; the movement of love and peace… we want a stable Malta that takes care of every member of society,” Abela said, going on to list the social and economic achievements of Labour governments.

In a nod to the cross-party agreement that will tomorrow see parliament approve Myriam Spiteri Debono’s nomination as president, Abela described her as “a daughter of the party, but above all a deserving daughter of the Maltese State”.

“She is a woman of strong principles and wise, who always left her door open for the downtrodden,” Abela said.

The Labour leader’s speech was preceded by nostalgic patriotic songs and an audio-visual feature in a programme that ended with the lighting of the urn atop the Freedom monument.

Malta celebrates the departure of the last British forces from the island, known as Freedom Day, on 31 March. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the event, which was the culmination of then Labour prime minister Dom Mintoff’s belief in a country that no longer depended on foreign military bases for its living.

Neutrality was only etched in the Constitution in 1987 as part of cross-party agreement to amend the electoral rules to avoid the problems that arose in 1981 election when the Labour Party obtained a majority of parliamentary seats but a minority of votes.