The Labour Party will be listening to what the people have to say about the White Paper on rent reform to help create a balance between the rights of owners and those of tenants.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat told supporters at the Ħamrun party club yesterday that Labour welcomed the publication of the White Paper, which the government had been promising for years.

Labour was all for improving situations that could be made better, said Dr Muscat, who was accompanied by his wife Michelle.

Labour was acting in a most responsible manner, even in Parliament, agreeing to pairing when it felt the meetings that the government MPs wanted to attend abroad would benefit the island but not when it felt that the meetings or conferences would give the country no added value.

This showed that Labour was an open party providing a fresh face for a new Malta.

On the shipyards, Dr Muscat said the government had not consulted anyone before deciding to privatise them. Though disappointed by this attitude, Labour's offer of assistance still stood.

After winning the election with the slogan Together Everything Is Possible, the Prime Minister called a news conference announcing the privatisation of the shipyards without even informing workers' representatives.

The Prime Minister had done this in spite of the fact that on March 14, he had told The Times that the government intended to start discussions with the General Workers' Union to take stock of the situation and work on a possible solution to the problems keeping the shipyards from moving ahead.

Dr Gonzi made decisions on his own, he said. This was shameful and it would not be Labour's style of doing things.

"We are ready to listen to everyone even regarding the shipyards' future... We are not excluding anything, including privatisation... We want the best for the country and the workers."

Labour was in fact satisfied, Dr Muscat added, that the first meeting held between the government and the union had been cordial. However, it was disappointed that the government was not utilising other tools.

It could, for example, take the case to the Employment Relations Board. This was the best forum where workers' representatives, the government and even the opposition, if necessary, could discuss the situation and look at what was best for the future of the shipyards.

He said Malta had registered the second highest increase in the tax burden among EU countries. While the EU's tax average had dropped marginally, in Malta it had skyrocketed. And even though the people expected the government to address the problem, the government was trying to skirt it by highlighting the food and oil crisis.

But the cost of food in Malta was rising at a higher rate than in the eurozone, meaning that part of the increase in price here was due to inflation. Moreover, when the Nationalist Party was drawing up its electoral programme, the crisis was already brewing, yet the PN still promised lower taxes. Those promises had to be honoured, Dr Muscat insisted.

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