Standard of living

Victor Spiteri (May 11) made a few points which deserve a reply.

He wrote that "Alfred Sant wanted to raise the tariffs for water and electricity, even beyond what they are now". Mr Spiteri forgot that Dr Sant had stopped those tariffs and ordered a review. Indeed, not one water and electricity bill with those tariffs was issued. I invite Mr Spiteri to publish the last water and electricity bill he had paid in 1998 when Dr Sant was still Prime Minister and compare that to the last bill he paid.

Mr Spiteri also blames Dr Sant for insisting on a hedging agreement. He believes that "hedging" is as dangerous as gambling. Once again, he forgot that the advice given to the PN government by the government's own experts was to go for hedging. Their advice was ignored because obviously Dr Gonzi got cold feet and we lost millions of liri as a result - millions which we consumers are being made to pay from our pockets!

Air Malta, Lufthansa and a good number of other renowned companies went for hedging - as it was obvious that oil prices would continue to rise this year. And they saved millions of euros.

On the question of the euro and the penalty we would have to pay when we adopt the EU currency, I invite Mr Spiteri to read carefully the article written by accountant and auditor Joe Sammut - who worked in Malta's Central Bank in the past - published in l-Orizzont on May 8. He may then realise that having too much money in circulation (three times the amount allowed by the European Central Bank) is not a good thing. Otherwise why would the ECB come down hard on countries which exceed the limit set by it?

Surely, most of the excess money in circulation must be due to the enormous loans being given by the banks to young couples to purchase their own property - and to developers and property speculators.

Despite the huge amount of money in circulation (not in the pockets of ordinary citizens), a majority of respondents to a Malta Today survey replied that they are "worse off" today than when they were before Malta joined the EU!

What kind of "standard of living" is Mr Spiteri referring to, when today, before deciding to use your own car, you have to count the kilometres before deciding whether to leave it in the garage or not? Of course, I am not referring to the "well off", but to ordinary citizens living on a modest wage or salary, let alone pensioners!

Or when young couples are forced by circumstance to work, not just "full-time" (if they find such a job) but part-time as well in order to pay the bank's loan for a small apartment, costing anything between Lm40,000 and Lm60,000?

Or when one may be forced to go to Sicily - not to buy Mars chocolate this time - but to purchase the medicine one was used to. What kind of "standard of living" is that?

I suggest to Mr Spiteri to take up Leo Brincat's advice to Dr Gonzi, namely "to regularly carry out home visits the way Labour MPs and candidates are doing". It is only through direct contact with common citizens in their own home that one can gauge how such citizens are living. Certainly not by having the Prime Minister sounding "upbeat" when so many thousands of people are suffering!