Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told Parliament yesterday that the debate on the confidence motion in his government conveyed a message of stability in the interests of Malta’s workers. The government’s majority was stable and would continue to push the government forward in the national interest.
Dr Gonzi said next Monday, the government would be presenting a budget in the best interests of the country.
At the start of the debate, Dr Gonzi said the people expected a stable government they could rely on and he was not prepared to leave the people in any doubt about the stability of the government.
The Prime Minister denied having a defective majority. Global instability called for a sense of responsibility at a time when one wrong decision could unbalance the country. Malta had won through in the face of the huge challenges.
Dr Gonzi said the Leader of the Opposition had accepted the shocking events in North Africa in a strange way, embarrassing Malta diplomatically. It was also true, Dr Gonzi said, that the government had also faced protests by the Maltese, but about public transport, which was important to the people.
Malta was surviving the world crises only with the government’s courageous leadership. Otherwise, Malta would already have had serious problems in public spending, not least on energy and utility costs. But it had also done everything possible not to increase taxes, with decisions that had made enormous differences, including the Delimara power station extension, the interconnecting cable and the closing down of the Marsa power station.
On the other hand the opposition had continuously said no to everything the government did. It had said that a Labour government would reduce utility tariffs, but never explained how. One probable choice would be to go for a higher deficit and more taxes to recoup part of the expenditure.
On the other hand the people would remember the government’s courage for reform, its investments in priority resources such as top-notch education for children’s future. The government’s policies were sincere and not opportunist.
Winding up the debate, Dr Gonzi said that while Dr Muscat criticised the government for referring to the past, he had done so himself. But he did not refer to his own past, including his opposition to EU membership, a historic mistake which, had it come to pass, would have affected all members of society.
While Dr Muscat referred to credit rating agencies, he ignored the latest report by Standard & Poor’s, which stated that recent policies helped improve public financing.
The government belonged to all Maltese because when it intervened to defend jobs during the 2009 crisis, it safeguarded jobs to labourites and nationalists alike. Moreover, the government was also building a new school each year. The building of new Parliament was providing work for Maltese workers.
The government was transforming the Maltese economy from a manufacturing one to a modern one based on services. Financial services were increasing and it did not only comprise of gaming.
The government’s vision also consisted of having an energy cable connected with the European grid. One could also consider a gas pipe to run the power station by gas from the European grid.
It seemed that the opposition wanted to keep the dockyard, which had bankrupted the ex-chequer, open. It was not wise to keep spending €25 million a year.
The motion was carried by 35 votes for and 34 against after a division.
Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg said that it was unacceptable for the opposition to say that the government was in power against the will of the people.