Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said he got the shivers when he read The Sunday Times’ interview with Joseph Muscat because it proved that the Labour leader “understood nothing”.

Sound finances are crucial to ensuring free healthcare and education

He made specific reference to when Dr Muscat said Malta’s economic stability occurred “despite the Government, not because of it”.

Dr Gonzi said this showed Dr Muscat’s lack of understanding because he did not appreciate the importance of difficult decisions taken by the Government, such as intervening with Air Malta, Sea Malta and the shipyards.

The Prime Minister pointed out that Dr Muscat acknowledged the country’s success but claimed the Government had nothing to do with it.

Dr Gonzi also lambasted Dr Muscat for not saying in which direction he wanted to take the country and for ignoring questions put to him during the Xarabank debate regarding his advice earlier in the legislature to follow in the footsteps of Cyprus, now asking for a bailout.

The Prime Minister said sound finances were crucial to ensuring free healthcare and education. He said he would soon open a new school in Ħandaq because education remained a priority till the end of the legislature. Dr Muscat, he said, had given up on creating 20,000 jobs in the next legislature, but warned that there would be another 20,000 ­graduates who would need employment.

He again asked Dr Muscat to apologise for the “ruthless” way he had brought cancer and asthma into the energy debate despite health experts rubbishing his claims.

Dr Gonzi was speaking in Siġġiewi where PN general secretary unveiled the PN’s smartphone app for the election: mychoice.pn.

Earlier, Tourism Minister Mario de Marco also made reference to the interview in The Sunday Times, saying he had to quote in English because it was Labour’s new fad to speak in English.

The interview, Dr de Marco said, showed Dr Muscat did not understand the economy or tourism because he did not appreciate how much the Government had worked in the area to achieve records each year.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech also spoke, attributing most of Malta’s accumulated debt to Labour. He said Labour had employed 7,000 civil servants before the 1987 election, costing the country €1 billion.

Labour, which accumulated €700 million debt in 22 months of Alfred Sant’s administration, was also against the privatisation of the shipyards which accumulated €1.2 billion debt.

“That’s already €3 billion of the €5 billion Labour is worried about,” he said, adding that the PN Government’s debt had come from initiatives such as Mater Dei Hospital of which the country ought to be proud.

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