Institutions must respect one another, PM insists

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday defended his criticism of the planning authority's audit officer Joe Falzon, saying institutions needed to respect each other to safeguard democracy.

The auditor made a "big mistake" when he criticised a decision by the courts, Dr Gonzi said, comparing it to "the time of the socialists" when judges and magistrates used to be frequently attacked for their decisions.

Dr Gonzi was interviewed during a political meeting in Lija.

He said he looked forward to an objective investigation into last Wednesday's nationwide power cut because a company that was interested in investing in Malta told him that a power cut of one hour would cost it €5 million.

He listed a series of "coincidences" surrounding the three previous blackouts, which coincided with discussions about Enemalta in Parliament or on television.

"I don't know whether it was sabotage. Coincidences happen. But, whether it was sabotage or not, we need to know what measures to take," he said.

The best way forward was to have various sources of electricity including oil, gas, wind farms and an interconnecting cable with Sicily, so if one faltered, the others would compensate.

Dr Gonzi said that if the government continued to subsidise electricity, the public would not recognise the importance of investing in alternative energy equipment such as solar-water heaters.

He said no decision had been taken on the future use of the unused St Luke's Hospital. This was a prime site and the government hoped to attract foreign investment to it, but was waiting for the post-crisis opportunities to arise.

He said he wanted hospital waiting lists to be cut to acceptable levels in three years' time.

Reacting to Dr Gonzi's comments, the Labour Party said it was disappointed by the fact that he was "implying" sabotage as a cause for the power cut, making workers look bad.

It also criticised Dr Gonzi's "institutionalised" attack on the Mepa auditor who, the party said, was challenging the code of silence on doubtful cases. "This is a case of shooting the messenger not the message," it said.