Labour will ‘make a mess of EU funds’
The Labour Party would make a mess of the €1.128 billion in EU funds which Malta secured until 2020 and cannot be trusted with managing them, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.
“Whenever people invested in the Nationalist Party, we always delivered. We made mistakes but we delivered. We managed to get €1.128 billion in EU funds to spend. Who will you trust with these funds? They will surely make a mess of the EU funds,” he said.
Dr Gonzi, who was speaking during an interview on Radio 101, said that with four weeks to go before the election, the electorate should seriously consider how to vote “because a mistake on March 9 cannot be reversed”.
“How can I trust Labour if they are not capable of costing their electoral promises? They are adamant on building a new power station which we do not need simply out of spite. We are spending €200 million on the interconnector and they are only going to use 20 per cent of it. This is irresponsible political pique,” Dr Gonzi said.
He spoke about the various projects carried out in the nine years of EU membership through European funds and noted how Labour Leader Joseph Muscat had been against EU membership.
At least €63 million of the EU funds Malta clinched will be invested in a gas pipeline. This was the “safer option” to Labour’s “dangerous” proposal of building two gas storage plants as large as the Mosta church adjacent to its new power plant, which will cost €600 million and does not qualify for EU funds.
Within 12 to 14 months, the interconnector providing electricity from Sicily will be up and running and Malta can introduce a night tariff which will benefit hotels, restaurants, factories, small businesses and also families.
Referring to Dr Muscat’s plan to use a veto to force his hand on EU leaders, Dr Gonzi said this “methodology will bring disaster.”
“You have to win an argument through persuasion and not by threatening,” he said.
Dr Gonzi said Labour was “wrapped in blue” but was “as red as a watermelon” on the inside.
“If Labour keeps up with these bullying tactics, they will erase the good reputation we have managed to build with Europe over the years,” he said.
He warned that the next five years will be difficult but not as much as 2008, when the economic and financial crisis began. He, however, cautioned: “Who plays with fire gets burnt”.
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Joe Bonanno
Feb 11th, 14:11
Ramon, the amount left behind by MLP was 400 million Maltese Liri. Not including, as you say, gold and many other assets that the PN sold at fire sale prices to hide the true deficits in their budgets. Their legacy is to pass the "Fruits" of the incompetency to posterity. How they can even claim to have been financially responsible astounds. We are not the fools they make us out to be!
Ramon Cassaro
Feb 11th, 10:22
So when the PN won the 1987 election they found millions of Maltese Liri and gold in the Maltese coffers left by the former MLP Govt and now we have about 5 Billion Euro debt and no gold,left by the PN govt,which we as tax payers have to accounted for.
Rob Camper
Feb 11th, 07:27
Staunch PN supporter for 20 years,the last 5 years a disaster to say the least,IMO time for a change,the days of just seeing blue are gone for me,i need to have a secure future and its a bit rich Wenz for u to worry about what will happen with EU money cause if you look back at the non distant past one can be horrified with the fiascos that the Maltese citizen paid for, non digestible wenz!!
Victor Vella
Feb 10th, 21:48
Labour will ‘make a mess of EU funds’ You made a mess to whatever your par idejn sodi took hold on. The black corruption under GonziPN will be recorded in the history of Malta revisited.
Joseph Galea
Feb 10th, 21:29
"....... plan to use a veto..." Here we go again; the same old Mintoffian negotiation techniques. One would have hoped that they would have learnt something from the effective negotiation techniques used by Dr. Gonzi that resulted in a €1.128 billion allocation to Malta in the latest reduced EU budget.
Joe Bonanno
Feb 11th, 14:28
The PN said the same when MLP fought to renegotiate the base rent agreement. The result: from 3.5 million pounds to 14 million pounds. The PN effective negotiators? Just look at how they sold public assets left to them by the MLP these last years at fire sale prices. If you want serious and productive negotiations you want Labour. To get the best deal you need PL bulldogs, not PN lapdogs.
Joe Bonanno
Feb 10th, 20:27
Is Gonzi living on the same planet, let alone island, as the rest of us. The PN fiscally responsible?! Next he'll be saying that there isn't any debt and that the PN will be leaving a billion in the treasury for future administrations! Whatever Malta gets from the EU will be more than defrayed by just paying part of the annual interest on the huge debt that the PN accumulated. Sound Finances?
Joseph Borg
Feb 10th, 20:11
“If Labour keeps up with these bullying tactics, they will erase the good reputation we have managed to build with Europe over the years."
Does this reputation include the wasted funds that the current education minister lost? Does this also include the actions to be taken against high public transport tariffs for foreigners? What reputation?!
Please choose the reason of your report below: