The national interest comes first - PM

The national interest has to prevail over sectoral and partisan politics after Saturday's elections, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told social partners yesterday.

Dr Gonzi said monopolies that took consumers for granted had to be eradicated, adding that consumers deserved the best service at the best price.

He was addressing representatives of trade unions, associations, organisations, alliances and members of civil society during a business breakfast at Villa Arrigo, Naxxar.

He agreed with a proposal that all the country's MEPs should work together in the national interest and said this should go beyond and include Malta's representatives in EU institutions, such as the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee.

The government and Maltese MEPs, whatever political party they represented, had to pull the same rope in the country's interest and uphold values that formed part of the national identity.

Dr Gonzi again guaranteed that healthcare would remain free. He explained that the controversy over the issue had erupted because the government wanted to strengthen the role of family doctors. The government wanted to give doctors the facility to access patients' data from their own clinics, he said.

The president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, Kevin DeCesare pointed out to Dr Gonzi that his comment - made during a press conference as part of the campaign - that hotels and catering establishments had increased their prices was unfair, especially because these had gone down by between 20 and 40 per cent.

Dr Gonzi said it was strange that NSO calculations showed these prices had increased by four per cent in April when compared to March and by 11 per cent when compared to April last year. This uncovered a flaw in the method used to calculate such data and talks were underway to change the way rates were computed so that figures would better reflect the truth, he said.

Replying to a comment by Public Transport Association president Victor Spiteri, Dr Gonzi said it was natural that drivers and bus owners were worried about their future.

He said the country had to have an open tender process because this was imposed by the EU: "We have to understand each other's position and keep our feet on the ground".

In what could be taken as a warning, Mr Spiteri said Transport Minister Austin Gatt only seemed to want to discuss what compensation bus owners should get to move out of the way: "We sincerely do not wish another July 2008 event when public transport operators brought the country to a standstill through the transport strike".