Following the Budget analysis in recent days I was shocked to realise that at times of such crisis this Budget does not bother to address serious underlying issues. There is a bit of tinkering here and there to give over 80s and parents some much-needed cash but little else.

With the writing on the wall in so many European countries it would have been more responsible for GonziPN to try to stop the tide of debt from drowning us, rather than only think of impending elections and trying to curry favour.

And by the way we now know Alfred Sant didn’t create the debt, one of the worst lies of the 1998 election. Indeed a full 27 per cent of it has been created since 2008 alone. And yet where are the brakes on this serious debt crisis in the Budget?

This Budget was certainly lukewarm, as was the response all over Malta bar from Nationalist Party diehards.

Budgets are meant to be an important economic tool. Not in Malta, where it has now degenerated into farsical electioneering. With the eurozone countries in serious trouble because of unsustainable debt, mostly it appears so far in the southern part of the eurozone, it should have been a Budget where Lawrence Gonzi and Tonio Fenech pre-empted trouble by seriously addressing our debt.

However, being in power at all costs and forever and ever is now the mantra of GonziPN. There is nothing in this Budget to seriously address our growing debt. As The Times editorial rightly implied (November 15) are they fiddling while Malta burns?

It seems inconceivable that we would be faced with such a superficial and not so smart Budget in the midst of what is clearly the worst crisis ever to hit the eurozone. All over Europe, countries are seriously addressing these problems; some to pre-empt them like the UK, some like Italy as they now have no choice.

And in Malta we have a Finance Minister who instead tries to play with people’s minds. First he tells us he took austerity measures when times weren’t so bad. Or worse a Prime Minister who tells us he raised bills to encourage us to buy solar heaters. And now, risibly, Mr Fenech tells us he can be generous even though times are terrible.

These are mind games which ill-befit a serious government. These mind games suit a government that has lost all decency and credibility. Of that the majority are now sure.