PM hints at rise in tariffs

The Prime Minister yesterday strongly hinted that the country should expect an increase in the price of electricity as oil prices continue to rise.

Although he stopped short of confirming that the soon-to-be revised tariffs would go up, Lawrence Gonzi said: “I’m very worried because oil has reached $75 a barrel. The tariffs are revised every six months...”

They were last revised downward by 20 per cent in May. However, the Prime Minister pointed out that the tariffs were reduced only because oil then cost around $40 a barrel.

“The world is still recovering from a recession and the price of oil will go up – we have to understand this,” he said during a political meeting in Żebbuġ.

The highly controversial tariffs were made official in December but were introduced retrospectively from October 1, not without some last-minute touches after desperate appeals by the unions and employers.

Earlier this year, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt admitted that the government had mishandled their introduction.

However, the Labour Party yesterday criticised Dr Gonzi’s “irresponsible statement” that might lead people to believe that their bills would be higher. These statements led to uncertainty, endangered jobs and damaged the economy, it said.

The Labour Party reiterated its stand that the government should in the next budget announce maximum tariffs, which would help families and businesses plan ahead.

During yesterday’s meeting, Dr Gonzi lashed out at Labour leader Joseph Muscat’s “so-called” apology for the violent events that took place 30 years ago on Black Monday.

He accused the Labour leader of pandering to everyone. “You can’t please everyone but must take a position,” he said, reacting to the fact that Dr Muscat had denounced what happened on Black Monday but at the same time said the PN should apologise for its tacit role in the Church’s attack on Labour and its supporters.

Describing it as the most hypocritical apology he had ever heard, Dr Gonzi said it would have been better had Dr Muscat kept quiet.

Instead, he tried to please both those who were hurt and Labour followers by also calling on the Nationalist Party to apologise.

“And apologise for what? For all those who were beaten for celebrating Independence Day, or beaten at Tal-Barrani or the attacks on Eddie’s house?” he said angrily.

On Black Monday, October 15, 1979, Labour thugs first burned The Times building and then attacked Opposition Leader Dr Eddie Fenech Adami’s family at their home. No one was ever charged with the attacks.

Turning to the controversy that arose after Finance Minister Tonio Fenech admitted going on a football trip on a private jet with two businessmen, Dr Gonzi insisted again that it was a mud-slinging exercise.

He condemned the person who sent Mr Fenech an anonymous letter in an attempt to blackmail him and linked it to a government clampdown on gaming arcades a few months earlier.

The letter was closely connected to the closing down of arcades and was an attempt to influence the government’s upcoming decision on the casino licence, Dr Gonzi said.