The current generation of politicians expected honest journalists who did not have any hidden agendas and who placed the interest of society first and foremost.

Journalists expected politicians to be honest partners in their consistent search for the truth. They expected politicians to permit them to take part in the process of building an equal society.

Politicians cannot shake off responsibility and then when something is successful they take the merit but when something goes wrong they blame the workers.

Prime Minister Gonzi could not be trusted, he repeated, since there was no visible and plausible explanation for the ballooning deficit which reached €345 million in August.

We might not always please everyone. But our job is not to please, but take the relations between our countries to new, higher levels."

The country needs change but we also have to have the courage to acknowledge what is good," he said, insisting this was part of the mentality change the party had to undergo. "It is easy to say no; more difficult to say yes. But change is our lifeblood,"