Every previous government helped the country move forward, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday, criticising the Prime Minister’s “disgusting” political antics such as when, last Sunday, he labelled Labour a “disastrous disease”.
“I can never identify with such declarations, even if, in the past, they came from the Labour Party. Every government did positive things in our country. And we cannot go back to tribal politics where everything is black and white or good versus evil.”
“I have no problem saying the Borg Olivier, Mintoff and even the Fenech Adami administrations, together with all the rest, did what they could to move the country forward. And this government is dismantling not only what was built under Labour but even the good left by Fenech Adami,” he said, in a rare show of praise for former Nationalist Party leader Eddie Fenech Adami.
Fielding questions from supporters during a party activity in Rabat, Dr Muscat criticised the government’s opposition to the extension of maternity leave as being proposed by the European Parliament.
He said the EP’s strong position calling for 20 weeks of maternity leave gave it room to negotiate and compromise with the Council of Ministers.
But apart from procedure, this issue highlighted an important difference between the two political parties, namely that Labour, which originally introduced maternity leave in Malta, believed in strengthening the system. However, the Nationalists first said they wanted an equal system across Europe and then rejected the system without studying the situation properly, something Labour MEP Edward Scicluna had done.
“If, for argument’s sake, the government shouldered all the burden of the maternity leave extension, we would have to pay €5 million a year,” he said, pointing out he believed the burden should be shared by industry and the government.
“But the government is more interested in spending €100 million to build a new Parliament than spending that same amount over 20 years to solve, for instance, the problems of pensions being unsustainable.”
He said such an investment would change the face of the workforce in a crucial way where more women would contribute to the economy so as to increase the sustainability of the welfare system.
Speaking about today’s Budget, Dr Muscat first cynically said he expected the important measures to be announced after the annual Budget, such as what happened when the water and electricity tariffs were hiked.
“People are expecting a fair Budget that is responsible and helps to generate jobs. Yes, let’s cut the deficit (after so many years of missing our own targets). But to really be sustainable there must be economic growth.”
“A Labour government would give an enormous incentive to tourism,” he added, pointing out that people had invested millions of euros in this crucial sector and it should be at the top of the agenda.
People were also expecting concrete steps to fight increasing cost of living and to ensure consumer protection, such as through the setting up of the long-promised consumer agency.
There should also be concrete steps taken to reduce the burden of energy tariffs, to fight incompetence, especially within ARMS Ltd, and to fight “corruption tax”, he said, pointing out important aspects left out of the proposed Whistleblower’s Act.