Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1543912
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 MARCH 2026 13 years of Labour: The 13 proposals IT has been just over 13 years since Joseph Muscat's Labour Party came to power with an unprecedented electoral victory that shaped Malta's destiny. ON 9 March 2013, the PL achieved the biggest general election victory since Malta's independence, beating Law- rence Gonzi's battered Nationalist Par- ty by some 36,000 votes. To this day, Malta, its political class and many aspects of society have been shaped by the decisions taken since 2013. On the 13th anniversary, MaltaToday reopened the Malta Tagħna Lkoll elec- toral manifesto in search of the 13 pro- posals we believe significantly shaped the country. Re-reading the manifesto felt like en- tering a time machine taking us back to a completely different country. The seeds of today's Malta were present in the 2013 Labour manifesto, even if some of the most impactful and controversial changes were presented very vaguely in the document. 1. CHEAPER UTILITY BILLS Labour's flagship proposal was to re- duce electricity bills by an average of 25% and water bills by 5%. This was tied to other energy proposals such as a promise to ensure that energy produc- tion becomes cheaper and cleaner by phasing out heavy fuel oil and the clo- sure of the Marsa power station. Ener- gy production was to be revolutionised with the introduction of liquefied nat- ural gas. The cost of energy had been a signif- icant concern for the electorate during the Gonzi years that preceded Labour's election victory. By 2014, utility bills were lowered and ironically, the rates set at the time are the same rates consumers continue to pay today as a result of subsidies intro- duced in the aftermath of Russia's inva- sion of Ukraine. The lowering of utility bills gave fam- ilies financial reprieve and provided businesses with long-term stability, en- abling the economy to get back on its feet. At the same time, a new gas-fired power station was built by the private consortium Electrogas at Delimara, en- suring cleaner air. But impressive as it may be, this achievement was not free from the shadow of corruption that would lat- er be revealed in the wake of Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder. Journalists discovered that Caruana Galizia mur- der suspect Yorgen Fenech, one of Elec- trogas's shareholders, owned a Dubai company, 17 Black, that was listed as a target client for secretive Panama com- panies belonging to then Energy Min- ister Konrad Mizzi and then Office of the Prime Minister Chief of Staff Keith Schembri. Both Panama companies had been registered soon after the Labour Party came to power in 2013. 2. FREE CHILDCARE The introduction of free childcare centres was intended to boost employ- ment by encouraging more women to join the labour market. The measure provided free childcare services for children between three months and three years old, whose par- ents were employed or pursuing studies. Last month, a study by the Central Bank of Malta found that the pro- gramme significantly influenced fe- male participation in the workforce, especially among single mothers and households with several children. The scheme's uptake grew significantly from 875 children in 2014 to 9,400 by 2024. Free childcare was just one measure in Labour's tool box to revive the econo- my. It proved to be successful and the scheme is now part of everyday life for many families although it comes at a cost to public coffers. Earlier this year, the government inked a four-year agreement worth €277 million with pri- vate childcare facilities to maintain the free scheme. 3. THE GOLDEN PASSPORT SCHEME The Individual Investor Programme (IIP), better known as the golden pass- port scheme, was but a vague promise in the 2013 election manifesto. The PL had promised: "Improve ex- isting schemes and programmes such as the High-Net-Worth Individuals and Permanent Residence Scheme, while introducing new ones to make it more attractive for individuals to invest in property in Malta and Gozo." In the first year, the PL government announced that ultra-rich applicants can pay €650,000 to become Maltese, and by extension, EU citizens. The scheme generated over €1 billion in revenue, the bulk of which was hived off into a sovereign wealth fund—Nation- al Development and Social Fund. The cash was used for major projects in so- cial housing, the healthcare sector, and cultural investments. It also proved to be a useful safety net during the COV- ID-19 pandemic. But the controversial scheme also at- tracted criticism in Malta and abroad with Brussels coming down hard and eventually opening a court case against Malta. The scheme was also prone to scandal with Keith Schembri and Brian Tonna, a financial services practition- er, being charged in court in 2021 with money laundering and bribery linked to the sale of passports to Russian nation- als. Last year, the European Court of Justice ruled that Malta's citizenship scheme infringed EU law forcing the government to scrap it. 4. CIVIL UNIONS AND LGBTIQ EMPOWERMENT Civil liberties were a major part of the PL's rallying call in 2013, with particu- lar emphasis on empowering the LGB- TIQ community. The state-sanctioned recognition of same-sex couples through the intro- duction of civil unions was promised and when the law passed in 2014 it al- so included the right to adoption. The measure changed the lives of many in the LGBTIQ community, who felt they were finally being recognised after dec- ades of conservatism. But the introduc- tion of civil unions was just the first step in a string of other empowering meas- ures adopted over the past decade that transformed Maltese society. In 2017, marriage equality was enact- ed by parliament, completing the cycle that recognised the reality of same-sex couples and families. Other civil liber- ties followed, cementing the PL's status as a progressive party that did not fear pushing the boundaries. 5. HOSPITALS' PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP One of the PL's biggest black spots since 2013 is undoubtedly the Vi- tals-Steward hospitals saga, which re- sulted in the biggest-ever corruption case being brought to court. Joseph Muscat, Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and many others were charged in 2024 and the case against them is ongoing. The Malta Tagħna Lkoll manifesto contained a number of proposals that hinted at what would be the hospitals' concession. It made reference to the "state of abandonment" of the Gozo General hospital, while another pledge was to "welcome proposals for the sus- tainable development of sites like… St Luke's Hospital…". The hospitals' concession was a recur- ring controversy throughout Labour's term in power as allegations of cor- ruption overshadowed the concession, while most of the work and investment that was supposed to take place never materialised. The only significant ben- efit was the construction of the Barts School of Medicine campus in Gozo, which continues to operate successful- ly. Eventually, a Maltese court annulled the concession contract amid sugges- tions by the National Audit Office that senior government officials were more MATTHEW FARRUGIA mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt FEATURE