Government should subsidise gas

Żminijietna - Voice of the Left is really concerned about the increase in the price of gas. We believe that the government should take necessary measures against such increases.

The price of gas cylinders has increased by 37 per cent, and this will lead to big difficulties for thousands of families who are already overburdened with cost-of-living increases and steep rises in water and electricity bills. Żminijietna supports the General Workers' Union, Union Ħaddiema Maqgħudin and the Forum of Trade Unions in their appeal to the government to be more sensitive in its decisions over the price of gas.

Instead of resorting to neo-liberal ideology which will further increase social inequalities, the government should keep gas prices low and affordable through subsidies.

Its financial arguments are hardly credible, when the same government forfeits finance through decisions such as the privatisation of revenue-generating entities, the sale of public land to developers at cheap prices, and the subsidisation of companies with no social concern, such as the car park operators at Mater Dei Hospital.

The government's neo-liberal attitude runs contrary to its own rhetoric for a social Europe.