Opposition leader Joseph Muscat yesterday pledged to make a law regulating IVF the first piece of legislation passed by an eventual Labour government.
A law regulating fertility treatment – already available within private clinics – has been the subject of several debates and controversies but has yet to be brought before Parliament.
“Every minute we delay is a minute taken away from a mother-to-be and a minute which no government can ever give her back,” Dr Muscat told a crowd that had gathered in Marsascala yesterday morning.
The Opposition leader also promised his audience that he would not raise the retirement age any further, saying the PL did not feel bound by any EU commitments to increase the pensionable age beyond 65.
Government officials said much the same thing earlier this week, telling the Commission that Malta had no need to raise the age any further given its demographics.
Dr Muscat did not believe the government. “They say they won’t raise the pensionable age, but they will. Those over 45 can choose between GonziPN, which already raised their retirement age once, or a new government with an alternative economic plan.”
He argued that economic growth, coupled with increased female workforce participation, would make raising the retirement age unnecessary.
But while both the PL and PN have said there is no need to raise the pensionable age, a report published by a government-appointed pensions working group some months ago stated the exact opposite.
The report found that even with a larger workforce and sustained economic growth of over two per cent over the next decades, “the pension system... remains unsustainable”.
Turning his attention to last week’s parliamentary vote that forced Richard Cachia Caruana, Malta’s permanent representative to the EU, to tender his resignation, Dr Muscat was succinct.
“The Prime Minister wanted a clear vote, and he got it. He doesn’t even know what’s going on within his own parliamentary group, let alone within the country.”
He took umbrage at the notion that Mr Cachia Caruana was irreplaceable, saying such suggestions were insulting to other top civil servants and also proof that GonziPN was a clique. “A clique only works and looks out for itself. In a movement, one member steps in for the other.”
Dr Muscat insisted that the PL “movement” – as he is wont to describe it – needed to stretch beyond partisan boundaries if it was to succeed.
“The next government will face some of this country’s greatest-ever economic and social challenges. Facing up to those challenges will require a united population, working together.”
He then dovetailed into an appeal to hardcore Labourites, calling on them to set aside their grievances and help him open the PL up to all those who wanted to contribute.
“It’s not easy breaking free of blue and red tribal politics – the tribal politics of England versus Italy – but we need to do it,” Dr Muscat said.