Muscat flags government’s debt bill of €550,000 a day

Labour Leader Joseph Muscat yesterday hit out at Finance Minister Tonio Fenech over the country’s debt level, saying he had not even been capable of balancing the books at the Birkirkara local council when he was mayor.

Speaking during a radio interview on One Radio, Dr Muscat accused the government of failing to tackle the country’s €550,000-a-day debt servicing bill properly.

“People do not care about the interests on our national debt because they do not realise what the money could be spent on instead,” Dr Muscat said.

He said that instead of paying for new schools or to cut the hospital waiting list, money from every tax imaginable was being used to pay for yesterday’s debts.

Dr Muscat said Labour in government would aim for a sustainable reduction in deficit accompanied by economic growth. He did not say how he would go about it.

Instead, he said the change would be spearheaded by people “who know how the economy works, not by accountants who want to balance the books by the end of the legislature” he said in a jibe aimed at Mr Fenech, an accountant by profession.

Dr Muscat said Labour in government would also reduce electricity bills and accused the government of inertia in the wake of revelations by European Commissioner John Dalli that there was a consortium ready to invest up to €1 billion in a clean energy project.

“Weeks have passed, and Mr Dalli’s proposal seems to have been forgotten,” Dr Muscat said.

He also questioned why hikes in gas prices did not seem to follow international patterns.

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said Dr Muscat was living in a “world of make-believe” and that Malta was not in the “disastrous situation of countries like Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal” thanks to “sound economic policies”.

“No doubt, our economic success is no thanks to Joseph Muscat’s failed economic advice. He warned Malta that EU and eurozone membership would spell economic disaster – and time proved him wrong. In his 2011 Budget speech he suggested that Malta should adopt Cyprus as its economic model – now we hear that Cyprus is taking some very harsh austerity measures to avoid the financial meltdown experienced by Greece, Spain and the Irish economy,” the party said.

Speaking on Libya, Dr Muscat said his party was following the National Transitional Council’s timetable attentively, especially because by the time the elections in Libya were held in 20 months’ time Malta would have a Labour government.

He also said Malta should finally have the “rights” which “have been disputed for years”, stopping short of saying it was oil he was referring to.

Dr Muscat also said the local council elections next year “will be very difficult for the Labour Party” because of widespread scepticism about the work local councils were carrying out.

While failing to win three general elections in a row, Labour has been successful in past local council and European Parliament elections.

Some local councils were disappointing. “Local councils have been mired in bureaucracy, endless procedures and some even in lack of transparency,” Dr Muscat said. While acknowledging that some local councils had indeed made a difference, he said there were localities where there were no improvements.

Dr Muscat pinned part of the disillusionment with local councils on various council-related stories which had emerged recently, saying that councillors on his party ticket who had failed to deliver would be asked not to contest again.

“Citizens don’t need excuses, they need work done,” Dr Muscat said.