The Opposition's approach to the Air Malta restructuring process was this evening criticised by the Finance Ministry.
It said in a statement that it was a shame that rather than submit concrete proposals to safeguard the airline, the opposition remained politically opportunistic and played for the gallery.
Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this afternoon that the party was very disappointed at the way the restructuring of Air Malta was being handled.
He said the business fundamentals of the plans were wrong and the whole process was raising doubts about where all this was leading.
The plan included wrong information and blatant shortcomings, he said.
It also also ignored important sectors such as the carriage of cargo and had basic mistakes even regarding the bottom line.
The government should have noticed such basic mistakes immediately, more so since the livelihood of many families was involved.
The disclaimer attached to the plan was longer than the plan itself, Dr Muscat said.
All this, he said, showed why the government had wanted the Opposition to sign a confidentiality agreement. It also explained why the government yesterday admitted that it had requested fundamental changes to the plan, drawn up by Ernst and Young.
The PL believed there was a future for Air Malta and wanted to give its total contribution, but was not being allowed to do so by the government, he said.
Air Malta, he said, needed to broaden its horizons to become stronger, but this did not appear to be the government's aim. He recalled that three years ago, the prime minister told the airline's workers that the airline had a good future. The situation was very different now.
He said the Opposition had agreed to participate in the restructuring committee and had been prepared for round the clock meetings, if necessary. It also backed emergency borrowing for the airline.
Much depended on the government's policies for Air Malta's survival, including a policy which allowed low cost airlines, but did not harm the national carrier.
The Opposition would stay on in the committee in the interest of the workers, but hoped the government would heed its call to help the airline and to get the restructuring process properly on track.
The PL would not reveal confidential information, but it did not need to be bound by confidentiality agreements, Dr Muscat said.
The Labour leader said the government had told the trade unions that they should give up the principle of 'last in, first out' or it would otherwise not provide alternative jobs. His view, Dr Muscat said, was that if the governemnt could give alternative jobs for those dismissed not under the last in, first out principle, it could give alternative jobs to everyone.
The ministry said that the Opposition’s sole interest was to undermine Air Malta’s restructuring process.
This could be seen from the its continuous negative comments and its insistence on casting doubts on the process, rather than make constructive proposals for the reforms.
It reiterated that Ernst and Young had been requested to make fundamental changes to their proposals and they were currently working on this. Therefore, it was amazing how at such a delicate moment, the Opposition leader continued to make comments which undermined the restructuring process.
In the same way, it was shameful how the Opposition leader was criticising the government for wanting to ensure confidentiality. This showed that Dr Muscat did not mind allowing the airline’s competitors to know of the airline’s final strategy.
The government appealed to everyone to respect the process to restructure the airline.
Should this fail, it warned, there would be negative consequences not just for the workers and their families but also for all who worked in the tourism sector.