Gonzi accuses Sant of inconsistency over SmartCity

The Prime Minister yesterday hit out at Labour leader Alfred Sant for his change of mind on the SmartCity project, using it as an example of inconsistency.

While a year ago Dr Sant had dismissed the SmartCity project as an other case of property speculation, Lawrence Gonzi said that, in an article he wrote last Sunday, the MLP leader reversed his position, saying it was important to provide young people with the necessary training for them to be able to take up the jobs the project would generate.

"I like this new beginning," Dr Gonzi commented sarcastically, while addressing a party meeting in Zabbar. Dr Sant's position a year ago would have meant that the people would have been deprived of some 5,600 jobs, Dr Gonzi said.

His criticism, made on the eve of budget day, tied in with the main thrust of his speech where he highlighted what he called Labour's, and particularly Dr Sant's, inconsistencies and bad judgement.

He recalled the stand Dr Sant had taken when Malta first applied to adopt the euro, pointing out that the opposition was completely against such a decision and arguing that Malta would not make it within the timeframe set by the government.

"His alternative then was to devalue the lira by 10 per cent. Well, had we listened to him we would have had to forget Lufthansa Technik, the HSBC call centres and SmartCity... I asked my colleagues three years ago: Are we going to be afraid of the boogie man or are we going to go for it? We went for it and we made it.

"We would be still talking of financial holes had we listened to him," he insisted. "Now we're talking about summits".

On this basis, he added, the government, would today be presenting a budget that will look at the future confidently and seek to improve the people's standard of living.

Both the Prime Minister, who will be presenting the budget as Finance Minister, and Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech, kept the cards close to their chests about measures contained in the budget, even if The Sunday Times reported yesterday that the government would be extending the children's allowance to all families while pensioners under 65 will not lose their pension entitlement if they choose to keep working.

Dr Gonzi did, however, rule out the reintroduction of an extra day leave for public holidays falling on Sundays.

"We've gone through that. It was a measure which was good for the country and we're not going back on it," he said.