Updated | Government and PN agree on national festivities marking Independence

With the 50th anniversary of Malta’s Independence fast approaching, the PN leader Simon Busuttil today said the party will not hold any celebrations of its own and make way for national celebrations.

Government sources told MaltaToday that the opposition had accepted its offer to find a solution, which would allow “both the PN and the national festivities mark the 50th anniversary celebrations.”

50 years of #Independence must unite us as a country: @PNmalta will move party events to make way for national celebrations on September 21

— Simon Busuttil (@SimonBusuttil) June 17, 2014

Moreover, the opposition will be given space to hold its own celebrations without hindering the national festivities.

The agreement between government and the opposition was reached last week, the sources said, adding “until yesterday, the two parties were finalising the last technical details of the events.”

This morning, Busuttil tweeted that the festivities “must unite us as a country” adding that the PN will move party events to make way for national celebrations on 21 September.

PN sources said that the party will hold its traditional celebrations between 16 and 19 September, leaving the eve of the holiday and 21 September free for national events, in which the PN will also participate.

Traditionally the PN, who holds 21 September 1964 as the key turning point in malta’s modern history, organises a week-long festival on the Granaries in Floriana in the day preceding the national holiday, however this time around party events will make way for events organised by the Foundation for National Festivities.

In February, the opposition had announced the creation of a committee to organise the 50th anniversary of independence. Moreover, while launching the slogan '50 Years of Nationhood,' deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami had said that the party would organise a series of cultural and political events, adding that the PN had not decided on a definite programme to ensure that these would not clash with other events organised by government.