Gonzi sets 'responsible' tone for budget

The Prime Minister yesterday set the tone for today's budget, stressing the need for "responsibility" throughout his address at a party activity.

The theme for the 2009 budget, to be announced this evening, will be responsibility, sustainability and solidarity, he said.

He described the budget as "one of the most important", underscoring that it comes in the midst of the global financial crisis and is the first since the adoption of the euro last January.

"The scenario in which this budget was drawn up was completely unpredictable five years ago and even a year ago... This is a time to show responsibility and postponing decisions is not the solution," Dr Gonzi said during a gathering at the Lija Nationalist Party club.

He addressed the criticism made by social partners of the new water and electricity tariffs, saying the government feels it has a responsibility to keep the economy stable by attracting investment, generating employment and remaining competitive as well as ensuring that the environment is better respected.

The budget, he said, will seek the sustainability of education, the economy and the environment and will practise solidarity with those who needed assistance - such as the 30,000 families who are exempt from the water and electricity surcharge.

Dr Gonzi stressed that Malta, the smallest EU country, had not pulled through the global financial crisis just months after it changed from the lira to the euro through pure coincidence.

Using his favourite tempest analogy, he emphasised his party's belief in the Maltese people: "We know how to sail through storms and don't only fare well in calm seas... The waves are out there but we can sail through them," he said in a message of "courage" when looking towards the future.

Ironically, courage was also the theme picked up by Labour leader Joseph Muscat who yesterday dubbed a national protest against the water and electricity tariffs a "national manifestation of courage", which will be held on Sunday. Dr Gonzi said the country's long-term interests were to be safeguarded irrespective of political belief.

"This is no time for shenanigans, empty rhetoric or manifestations that lead us nowhere," Dr Gonzi said in a reference to the planned national protest.