Joseph Muscat criticised for not yet having taken job of Opposition leader

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this morning criticised Labour leader Joseph Muscat for not yet becoming Opposition leader.

Addressing a dialogue meeting in Rabat, Dr Gonzi said that he could not understand the game Labour was playing. For even though the general election had been held six months ago, Dr Muscat had still not become Opposition leader.

This, he said, was at a time when the country needed to be strong to overcome the waves coming from abroad.

Dr Gonzi spoke on the agreement reached between the government and the General Workers’ Union on the privatisation of the shipyards last week.

The agreement, he said, confirmed that solutions were possible when people worked together. It also showed that taking to the streets was not the ideal solution.

The Prime Minister said the agreement did not mean that the privatisation problem had been solved but that an important obstacle had been overcome.

Foreign investors who could be interested to invest in the shipyards, might have been afraid to invest in an enterprise which was the issue of a dispute.

On education, the Prime Minister said that the number of 17-year-olds who decided to continue with their education had increased from a third seven years ago to two thirds now.

Current decisions, Dr Gonzi said, were crucial for the future. Today Malta was reaping the fruits of decisions it took 10 years ago.

He pointed out that a record number of students were applying for courses at MCAST. The Nationalist government, the Prime Minister said, would continue placing education at the centre of its policies.

Dr Gonzi said that whenever the people trusted the PN with the running of the country, it always translated this trust into great successes.