There were many questions to ask about the agreement the Government signed “behind everyone’s backs” with China yesterday, Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said.
Speaking in Balzan, Dr Busuttil said the agreement to partly privatise Enemalta was not only surprising but worrying because the country was selling an essential service such as power generation.
He said he was very surprised with the agreement because the Labour Party had pledged it would not privatise Enemalta.
The Opposition will be there to drive this message home
“Was it in our strategic interest to sell part of this company? Will this mean another country will determine our country’s energy generation? The Opposition will be there to ask all these questions and drive the message home that Malta’s essential services are not for sale,” Dr Busuttil insisted.
He questioned the criteria used to decide to sell 20 per cent of the company and wondered who determined the value of this share.
He also questioned what interest China would have in acquiring part of Enemalta and what it would be getting in return. Dr Busuttil likened it to the decision taken by a Chinese company to carry out a €4 million study on the viability of a link between Malta and Gozo and asked what the company would be getting in return.
This was the third U-turn in a week by the Government after the decision to continue using heavy fuel oil at the new Delimara power plant extension and the realisation that there was no real reason why the Marsascala Family Park was closed down.
On out-of-stock medicine, Dr Busuttil echoed what pharmacists were saying that the situation was alarming and out of control. He said the PN would strongly oppose any attempt by the Government to dismantle the pharmacy-of-your-choice scheme.
Dr Busuttil asked whether Labour was capable of governing and also questioned Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia’s ability to address the challenges in the health sector, including the out-of-stock medicine situation, which he did not see as alarming.
He pointed out that Dr Farrugia had to appoint the new Occupational Health and Safety Authority board twice this week because the first one he appointed was illegal as it did not include the officials demanded by law such as the Director of Employment.
Turning to the economy, Dr Busuttil said the Government had no concrete road map.
He hoped that the Budget would shed some light on plans the Government had on the economy and job creation.
“We hope to hear something on this in the Budget because unemployment is already on the increase, rising by more than 600 people in July,” he added.