By rescuing a boatload of immigrants that was not its responsibility, the Maltese government had given in and fallen into Italy's trap, Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.
Speaking to thousands of red-clad Labour supporters who gathered in Freedom Square, Valletta to celebrate Workers' Day, he said the government "is spineless".
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi thought he had solved everything last week after a phone call with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi but Italy had tricked him, he said.
The immigration situation could not be managed by crisis anymore and Labour's action plan needed to be taken up as soon as possible in the national interest.
Dr Muscat waved a letter he said EU socialist leader Martin Schulz had sent him pledging his support to Malta as a country with a unique problem of illegal immigration. Mr Schulz said Malta could not wait for the EU anymore and needed to be treated as a special case because the issue had become too sensitive and urgent.
Turning to another topical issue, Dr Muscat said the financial crisis was caused by conservative governments, just like Malta's, who believed money came first and people came second.
Even though Malta had not been affected initially, Dr Gonzi had caused uncertainty by introducing higher water and electricity bills, thus bringing on an economic crisis with his own hands.
By asking the people to pay higher water and electricity bills retroactively instead of reducing the tariffs as had been promised, Dr Gonzi had "stolen" from the people.
He accused Dr Gonzi of reducing conditions of work, speaking in terms of "flexibility, downsizing and restructuring" and giving early retirement schemes instead of generating decent jobs.
Dr Muscat said the state needed to help the economic situation by cutting taxes and boosting investment rather than decreasing investment by 40 per cent as it had done.
He accused Dr Gonzi of sitting and waiting for the storm to pass because there were still three years to go until the next general election by which time the people would forget.
"We are not going to forget," he said, to loud applause.
Dr Muscat said the country was facing a severe deficit problem.
Mentioning a list of companies, including Go, Sea Malta and Malta Shipyards, which had decided to reduce their workforce even after promises by Dr Gonzi that this would not be the case, Dr Muscat said workers needed to give the government a sign.
"If you stay home the person you will please most is Dr Gonzi," he said referring to the forthcoming European Parliament elections.
The Nationalist Party hit out at Dr Muscat for failing to even come up with one concrete suggestion as to how the country should face the challenges it was facing.
He seemed unable to distinguish between the generation of new jobs and an increase in jobs, it said.
The PN said that while Dr Muscat spoke in favour of drastic action in terms of illegal immigration, when they came to vote in Brussels on motions affecting Malta directly, MEPs representing the Labour Party either abstained or would not vote.
cperegin@timesofmalta.com