Updated, Adds government reaction - Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said in Parliament this evening that there were substantial differences between the Budget Document published by the government yesterday and presented to parliament and the actual Budget speech, also delivered in Parliament. The government should therefore say which is the real Budget.

In a reaction (see below) the government said the Opposition was clutching at an administrative mistake because it had nothing to say about the Budget.

Speaking in Parliament, Dr Busuttil noted that the approved minutes of the House mentioned both the Budget Document and the speech.

Among the differences, he said, was how the document said that Gozitan students in Malta would be given an €800 increase to their allowance while the Budget speech spoke of a €300 increase.

In the Budget speech it was said that the number of annual social security contributions for one, born after 1968, to be eligible for a full pension was rising to 41 years. The document did not say so. 

The government should explain which was the real Budget, Dr Busuttil said.

Intervening, government whip Godfrey Farrugia said the government had already explained in a statement that the Budget Document was issued by mistake and had been withdrawn. That was a working document, and what counted was the Budget Speech.  

Dr Busuttil said two different documents had been tabled in the House and reported in the minutes. The people should be told which was the real Budget.One could not simply withdraw a document once it had been minuted.  

Mario de Marco (PN) said the government side had not requested a correction of the minutes before they were approved. As a result the House now had two contradictory statements before it. The issue now was about their validity. 

The Speaker, Anglu Farrugia, said he understood that the Budget Document would be substituted. 

Dr de Marco said the document had not been withdrawn and the Opposition was requesting a ruling on its validity.

The Speaker said he would rule as soon as possible.

Dr Farrugia said the official statements, signed by the President, were the Speech, the Estimates and the Economic Survey.

Dr Busuttil said the Budget Document had been published by the government and officially tabled in the House. Once it was tabled it should be immediately available. It had not been officially withdrawn. 

In a reaction, the government said Simon Busuttil and the Opposition were in a panic after finding themselves alone in negatively criticizing the Budget.

Dr Busuttil was therefore clutching at an administrative mistake made when a document was erroneously uploaded and published.

He should know, the government said, that the document was meant to be of an explanatory nature and was not part of the documents submitted to the House under the signature of the President. 

Dr Busuttil had raised this matter because he had nothing else to say, the government said.

 

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