Undated 1200 - Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this morning challenged Joseph Muscat to immediately publish his plans to reduce the water and electricity tariffs, rather than seeking to raise the people’s expectations.
Reacting to a Sunday Times interview, where Dr Muscat said the plans were ready but he would only reveal details when the time was right, Dr Gonzi said the leader of the opposition should reveal his plans now, in the national interest.
One could very easily say that tariffs would be reduced, Dr Gonzi said, but the people needed to be assured that that would not be at a cost elsewhere. The people needed to be sure that the country would not end up in the same way as Greece.
Would Dr Muscat retain the interconnector between Malta and Sicily. How would he pay for it, and reduce the tariffs, if oil prices were high?
(See Dr Muscat's comments at http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111106/local/clear-plans-to-slash-tariffs-but-details-not-yet-muscat.392591 )
Dr Gonzi said the government priority in next week’s Budget would again be job creation and safeguarding the economy. By the end of the year, the government would be able to announce that the deficit would have slipped below 3% of GDP, something which other countries could only dream about.
The government would continue to place its focus on education and on health, including the building of the new cancer hospital. It would go ahead with its plans to close the Marsa power station, but it would also give due attention to social needs, such as the needs of the elderly.
For Labour, Dr Gonzi said, the over-riding interest was to win the next general election. For the government, it was to give the people the jobs they sought and deserved. The Budget would reassure the people in Malta, as well as overseas observers, that this was a serious government that planned well into the future.
Earlier, Dr Gonzi said he constantly asked himself what the people expected of him amid the sea of problems buffeting the countries on which Malta depended for its exports and tourism.
His priority, Dr Gonzi said, was to safeguard jobs. Yet, throughout the past three years the government had only seen obstructions from the leader of the opposition, who even sought to belittle official confirmation, here and abroad, of the progress of Malta's economy.
The only proposals seen from Dr Muscat was those he gave an RTK journalist, proposals which effectively meant that he had asked her to betray her own employer. This was scandalous, Dr Gonzi said.
But then again, one could remember how during the financial crisis of three years ago, Dr Muscat raised the issue over St John's Co-Cathedral. During the controversy over immigration, he defended the actions of a foreign country and while Malta was grappling with the Libyan crisis, Dr Muscat was exchanging e-mails with the RTK journalist.
Dr Gonzi said it was significant how Alfred Sant, with Dr Muscat's blessing, had delayed Malta's ratification of the latest EU bailout measures, including the extension of the European financial stability mechanism. But then again, Dr Sant was still frozen in the time when he froze Malta's application to join the EU. He also reflected the uncertainty which the PL continued to harbour on the EU.
Dr Gonzi said he did not wish, in any way, to diminish the importance of the bus service reform, and that more was needed to achieve what the people expected, but it was a sharp contrast that while the parliament in Malta was debating the bus system last Friday, the Greek parliament was holding a debate on which the very future of Europe hinged.
It would have been far better had the government and the opposition been working together on the bus service and, more importantly, on further strengthening the economy and safeguarding jobs, Dr Gonzi said.
Dr Gonzi said an interview given to The Sunday Times today showed how Dr Muscat was lacking ideas and was practically blaming him (Dr Gonzi) for everything that was happening in Malta, without any decent analysis. Dr Muscat was again failing to explain to the people how he would bring down power tariffs in a sustainable way without creating financial problems in other sectors, leading to a situation as had happened in neighbouring countries such as Greece or Italy.
But even worse than Muscat's lack of ideas and vision, were his attempts to distract the government's focus, Dr Gonzi said.
But this was a strong government which remained determined to deliver what the people expected. Tuesday was confirm confidence in the government and the government would then proceed with enthusiasm to do the best for the country. The government did commit mistakes, Dr Gonzi said, but the biggest mistake was made by those who stood on the fence and, by not contributing to the country, betrayed its people.