Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday ruled out an additional cost of living increase, despite a General Workers Union request to cushion further the water and electricity surcharge.
The government had made an exception by factoring in the surcharge burden into the upcoming cost of living adjustment, Dr Gonzi said, as he emphasised that the government had struck a balance between the positions taken by unions and employers.
During his monthly press briefing at Castille yesterday, the Prime Minister said the Government was succeeding in its economic and fiscal goals.
This success was manifested in the Budget presented on Monday, Dr Gonzi said, to the extent that all sectors of society, except the GWU, had welcomed it.
One has to take into consideration the way the economy was generating jobs, to the extent that Malta has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU. Such a phenomenon was taking place even though the government had effectively frozen employment within the civil service.
Dr Gonzi promised that his government had done its utmost to safeguard the jobs of the estimated 800 workers of Denim Services Ltd, which had signalled its intention to close down.
Unfortunately, he said, the contracting company was expecting the Malta plant to keep providing the same service at half the price. Though the government was prepared to protect the existing plant, it could not afford to subsidise foreign operators.
Dr Gonzi called on Opposition Leader Alfred Sant to stop trying to exploit workers by maintaining his pre-EU referendum tune that membership was forcing the closure of several factories. It was a well-known fact that globalisation was rerouting factories from the Western world to countries like China and Morocco.
Dr Gonzi underlined the importance of reducing the deficit to three per cent of GDP next year in a bid to attract further investment. Introducing windfall taxes would do nothing more than send the wrong message to potential investors.
He urged journalists to compare the 2006 Budget with the one presented by the Labour administration in 1997, a Budget which, he said, was riddled with taxes, as Dr Sant's government grappled with a massive deficit.
Dr Gonzi was unperturbed with a European Commission report published on Friday that Malta was still "far from ready" to adopt the euro in 2008.
He said that the currency's communication strategy would be completed shortly and a master plan published in December. The coin design will be subject to a competition early next year.
Dr Gonzi shot down suggestions that he should consider giving up the Finance Ministry portfolio because of his tight schedule, saying he believed he was managing to cope with his political commitments.
Asked whether the budget statement on the golf course had indicated a reconsideration for the site at Ix-Xaghra l-Hamra, Dr Gonzi said the government wanted to send a message that though it wanted to improve the tourism product, it was not prepared to do so at all costs. That was why the government would wait for the environment impact assessment report before jumping to any conclusions.
"Yes, we do want to see another golf course, but we don't want to see another tourist village," he said.
Government, Dr Gonzi said, had still not eliminated the other plausible golf sites, especially Pembroke.
Turning to the evident increase in embellishment works going on around the island, Dr Gonzi denied that the works had been stepped up because of the Commonwealth summit later this month.
With the exception of the road leading from the airport to Valletta, most of the works have long been on the table. Suffice it to say that the government has allocated Lm7 million to be spent on residential roads next year, Dr Gonzi said.