Muscat absent from OPM Budget debate
Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat did not take part in the 10-and-a-half-hour Budget debate on the Estimates of the Office of the Prime Minister, which started on Monday and continued yesterday.
It was the first time in recent history that the Leader of the Opposition did not speak during the debate on the ministry he directly shadows. Dr Muscat spoke only during his general reply to the Budget speech last week. A spokesman for the Labour Party said that, given the time allocated for the Budget debate was limited, Dr Muscat's two-hour speech last week was sufficient and he had a very well-prepared team who could speak on the various sectors of the Office of the Prime Minister.
The opposition speeches were made by Karmenu Vella, Leo Brincat, Helena Dalli, Stefan Buontempo, Roderick Galdes, Gino Cauchi, Alfred Sant, Marie-Louise Coleiro and Joe Debono Grech.
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Joe E Galea
Nov 27th 2009, 08:18
Well done Joe Muscat...teamwork is the key and not a one-man show...like GonziPN.
This newspaper sould be warded for trying to create mountains out of every move JM does....then they call themselves independent.....lol
nigel fenech
Nov 26th 2009, 22:24
Tajba din. Tfisser li bhala "shadow minister", jekk isir Prim Ministru, Joseph Muscat ikun Prim Ministru BLA PORTAFOL........????? !!!!!!!!
Tal misthija. Wahda wara l-ohra....minn burger ghal ghal nuqqas ta' prezenza f'ikliet statali, ghal fatt li jhalli lir-Re ta' Spanja jistenna....!!!!
X'jonqos issa.....nistghu nibqghu nistennghu lil Joseph Muscat?????
Antoine Vella
Nov 26th 2009, 21:00
Joe Grima
"Joseph Muscat has amply given his reaction to the budget speech. So what's the big deal?"
No big deal. None of the other PL speakers had anything significant to add either so why did they speak at all?
J Martinelli
Nov 26th 2009, 13:16
The absence of inane comments from Joseph is indeed welcome!
wally vella-zarb
Nov 26th 2009, 11:45
An utter non-issue. The bottom line is:
(1) Labourites are quite satisfied to listen to what their various MPs have to say.
(2) Die-hard Nationalists are highly unlikely to listen to the Labour spokespersons anyway, no matter who they are.
(3) Floaters are intelligent enough to see the difference and not be taken in by the vacuous hype that is propagated from the GonziPN spin machine.
The more we get of these puerile attacks on Dr Muscat, the more floaters are being convinced that their place is within the Labour Movement. Please do carry on with your tactics, PN spinners - Labour only stands to gain!
Joe Cassar
Nov 26th 2009, 10:37
Muscat wisely gave the limited time available for the debate to the LP MPs shadowing the OPM instead of wasting the House's time with generalised comments.
Fresh thinking. Well done.
It is interesting to note that the Gov side refused to extend the debating time by 15 minutes for each side.
One wonders why?
Joe Grima
Nov 26th 2009, 10:06
Joseph Muscat has amply given his reaction to the budget speech. So what's the big deal?
William P Flynn
Nov 26th 2009, 09:42
OPM - Other People's Money