Christian Peregin
The crisis is still here – PM
Nationalist Party leader Lawrence Gonzi addressing the general council, yesterday. Photo: Jason Borg
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday launched another passionate appeal for people to appreciate his government’s economic successes even as he warned supporters that Malta could still encounter turbulence.
“I come before you some days after the Budget, not to speak proudly about a great achievement but to say the crisis is still here. So let us remain united and brace ourselves for the waves that may come,” he said, closing the Nationalist Party’s general council.
“I don’t know what I can say to show you the importance of this historic moment,” Dr Gonzi said, adding that in his meetings with other European leaders over the past week he had realised how nothing could be taken for granted.
Dr Gonzi did boast about the Budget his Finance Minister presented last Monday, highlighting how it compared to some of the most drastic austerity measures being implemented across Europe. However, he also cautioned against feeling that just because Malta fared well in the economic crisis it was out of the woods and could therefore act more impulsively.
“Someone else wants to hide the truth but we do not. We will not be afraid of talking about existing risks. And we will not be afraid of taking difficult decisions,” Dr Gonzi said.
Lambasting his rival Joseph Muscat, he stressed that his government took decisions based on what was needed, not on how people “cheer or boo”.
Dr Gonzi slammed the Labour Party for its scaremongering whenever it reacted to decisions taken by the government.
He said the government had instead always ignored the Labour Party’s unfounded warnings and proved that they were consistently incorrect.
“He who calls himself progressive in fact wants things to stay the same,” Dr Gonzi said, recalling the Labour Party’s opposition to EU membership, joining the eurozone, building a new hospital, raising utility tariffs and privatising the shipyards.
He said the people’s sacrifices had ensured Malta was able to weather the storm but it did not mean the risks were now behind us. Tackling the deficit, he said, was a way of ensuring jobs, pensions, the children’s allowance and social benefits.
He said unlike other countries around the world who boasted of their economic stimulus packages, the government acted differently and reaped better results.
“We took advantage of the small size of our country and provided personalised assistance to those companies that needed it. And for every cent that we put in we are now getting back 10 times that amount.”
But for this sort of investment, choices had to be made, and the government had also had to respond to the rising price of oil by putting up the utility tariffs.
Election on their mind
Most speeches by MPs dealt with the seemingly distant election.
The government is like an old mobile phone which although not as fascinating as it used to be, still does its job well and is not worth replacing with riskier alternatives, according to backbencher Charlo’ Bonnici.
He was one of many MPs speaking on the last day of the Nationalist Party’s general council who seemed to have the next general election on their minds.
MP Robert Arrigo said “complaining” was part of being Maltese but the party “has nothing to be afraid of” in the next election if it continued to help those who were vulnerable.
MP Edwin Vassallo said the Labour Party’s libertarian politics put important Christian and family values such as solidarity at risk. He added that the worst danger faced by the PN was not losing power but losing its identity and values.
“Let us remember we are politicians not administrators. Although we have good direction we cannot abandon the people... Labour does not have what it takes to win the next election but we can still lose,” he said, calling on people to use the time left as effectively as possible.
Party whip David Agius said he took a priest’s advice recently to buy a book of parables for his daughter’s First Holy Communion. Waving the book around, he recounted the story of the silly man who built a house on sand and the clever one who built on solid ground.
In an indirect reference to his party’s as yet unfulfilled promise of income tax cuts, he said a diligent father must give his family what it needs not what it wants, even if he had made certain promises during different times.
He also said that in the next few years the party would be ready to ask the people to place their faith in it yet again.
MEP David Casa compared Joseph Muscat to his predecessor Alfred Sant and ended his speech by saying he thinks the PN could win the next election.
MP Beppe Fenech Adami said Joseph Muscat was simply hungry for power at all costs but if the PN continued to work hard over the past two years, it could earn the people’s faith once again.
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leo attard
Nov 1st 2010, 22:13
@carla borg......Well, we are getting there regarding unemployment. You heard yourself that dept's have to be run more efficiently and i heard it on the news that the plan is that in the future, when 2 retire, only one will be employed. this wont apply to heth and educational sectors......If you employ one instead of two, that means unemployment will increase. But why do we need this measure if we were lucky to ride out the storm?...correct if i'm wrong.
Joe Busuttil
Nov 1st 2010, 21:35
Good entertainers these PNers. Can anyone attend?
Leo Attard
Nov 1st 2010, 20:57
@R Borg...ah, they did set up an electronic complaints register but the darn thing keeps overloading as it can't handle the number of complaints pouring in!
l fenech
Nov 1st 2010, 17:59
Ir-ricessjoni ghaddiet biss ghal-politici imma il-poplu dejjem jghix fiha.
Carla Borg
Nov 1st 2010, 17:37
In Zapatero's Spain (Joseh Muscat's role model) unemployment has reached 20%, whilst Malta has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe - enough said
T Camilleri
Nov 1st 2010, 19:06
Carla Borg Spain's Socialist Government is reaping the disaster left by the Conservatives (like PN).
Nick Warren
Nov 1st 2010, 17:21
Read this article - the crisis is still here and this is being said by a renowned world economist: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/10/29/raghuram.rajan/index.html
R.Borg
Nov 1st 2010, 17:18
Keep it up, Prime Minister! Do not be afraid. Keep on working for the common good of our country. We trust you. Just one suggestion: the turbulence can come from outside but also from the inside: certain workers in certain government departments are constantly putting spokes in the wheel. A centralised complaints electronic register should be set up.
Joe Grech
Nov 1st 2010, 15:57
The Hon. P.M. seems to have learned a thing or two following his recent visit to Brussels! Let's keep our fingers crossed hoping that, despite the ineffective, money squandering and politically motivated (certainly not nationally minded) leadership of Dr. Gonzi, Malta will indeed be spared more financial recession.
Meanwhile perhaps the Hon. P.M. (and the Leader of the Opposition) will begin insisting with all M.P.s that they should attend parliamentary sessions. Last Saturday's Report about this issue (as reported in the Malta Indep.) is a veritable disgrace.
Taxpayers are paying M.P.s who prefer to stay at hope during parliamentary sessions...Can anything be more shameful than that? What a disgrace!
Adrian Darmanin
Nov 1st 2010, 14:31
That is a very apt comment Leo Attard. Very smart of you to note that. Beppe admits that the PN is a party in which the people have lost faith when he says that faith could be earned back. This one must have slipped them by I'm sure, because it's not in keeping with the party's arrogance. As for earning it back, well, one lives in hope. The point is, this isn't about sugar coating things, this is all about a huge debt and how it will be paid back. And if one expects to be returned to power to run that debt still higher, well you've got a cheek. That's all they want, to continue to be able to spend our money with impunity.
c falzon
Nov 1st 2010, 13:38
Ara, vera?! Mela laqtitna r recession. if I m not mistaken, the prime minister a few weeks ago announced li it's not gonna hit us. Decide....mhux titkellem kif jaqbillek.
leo attard
Nov 1st 2010, 13:33
let's see what we have here --- the 'shab iswed' has become 'turbulence' and with Air Malta in trouble that means we're heading for a crash-landing!! Buckle up!!! You know, squirrels are smarter than our politicians because when they see winter coming they store, but our authorities see worse troubled financial times coming and yet are ready to squander money on useless projects like a parliament!
to Robert Arrigo, how can you be helping the vulnerable when utility vouchers were stopped?
to Mr Edwin Vassallo, it was a PN who brought up the issue of divorce!
to David Agius, I prefer Joseph's dream of first having 7 years of plenty and now we have 7 years of want! Or the prodigal son who squandered his savings and then returned to squander the savings of his sensible brother!
to David Casa -- think and could reflect uncertainty
to Beppe --- if you think you could earn their faith again means you've lost it
Phil Humphries
Nov 1st 2010, 13:02
"The crisis is still here"...... But don't worry, because we're re-paving Valletta in a nice shade of bird-dropping and rushing ahead with the new Parliament building. Alright, it might seem a bit expensive to the untrained eye, but we'll save lots of money by not replacing City Gate and leaving the roof off the Opera House. And don't be concerned about any EU Hunting fines, because Joseph will be in the hot seat by then and the PL will have to raise taxes in order to pay them ( tee he he ). In the meantime, don't forget to use water sparingly, because it doesn't flow in rivers here you know.
Isn't it reassuring to know that the PM's got his priorities in order and that he's acting in the public's best interest. Viva Gonzi !
John Saliba
Nov 1st 2010, 12:10
The crisis will always be here as long as you have a government spending like there's no tomorrow and a national debt through the roof at 70% of GDP. This budget, and all the others before it, hide this single important fact from the people, and admittedly the people seem blind to it when it is they who pay it off. Old mobile phone still functioning. Indeed!
John Sciberras
Nov 1st 2010, 12:06
One day he says we have successfully weathered the recession the next day he says we're still in crises. Give me Fenech Adami any day. Give me anyone for that matter but this man.
Roger Bezzina
Nov 1st 2010, 12:05
Denial, denial, above all denial. This is politics. Remain immune to people's problems and you really have nothing to fear. The problem will just go away, as will the party in government.
P.Cassar
Nov 1st 2010, 12:02
DEAR PRIME MINISTER YOU'RE RIGHT THIS TIME
THE CRISIS IS STILL HERE..............................THE PM TALKING AT THE PN GENERAL COUNCIL. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I ASSUME THEY ALL ROSE UP APPLAUDING !!!!!!!!!!!! POOR GUYS.
Mike Magri
Nov 1st 2010, 12:01
“..I come before you some days after the Budget, not to speak proudly about a great achievement but to say the crisis is still here....", GonziPN..
CRISES... What Crises....!!!!! If i am not mistaken, GonziPN`s `Par Idejn Sodi`, `Hrigna mill-Burraxka tar-Ricessjoni` and the `Finanzi fis-Sod` slogans were to indicate that our financial situation were at NO Crises at all, now..!!
WILL THE REAL GonziPN Please `Stand UP`.....!!??!!??
N.Lawrence
Nov 1st 2010, 10:10
The only economic success that most of us remember is that of the dictatorship awarding itself a massive pay rise.
Chris Finch
Nov 1st 2010, 09:58
The PM says the financial crisis is still here and yet he will risk millions of euros on an issue most of us don't want. Spring Hunting. Well done Gonzi. Now you made it perfectly clear that all this is about is the upcoming election.
You know that the court action will be after the election so you think the rest of us are too short sighted to appreciate exactly what it is you are trying to Most of the hunters have already said you have lost their votes so why are you trying to pander to them now?
You will lose a lot more if you insist on supporting this stupid and unwinnable cause.