The Opposition is open to entering talks over constitutional reform, feeling the time may be ripe for important changes, but warned it won’t play ball if the government stays “arrogant” and does not show it respect.
“We are sending continuous messages that we are a mature and effective Opposition.
“The fact that despite the government’s sheer arrogance we are going to be the first Opposition ever to back a president from the opposite political side is a case in point,” PN leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday.
“However, our cooperation has its limits and the government should not expect more cooperation if it continues to rubbish the Opposition.”
Addressing a press conference about Labour’s first year in government, Dr Busuttil said the first 12 months had been marked by favouritism, nepotism, injustices and arrogance.
“Just a year on, Labour’s slogan of Malta Tagħna Lkoll has become the biggest joke.
We are a mature and effective Opposition
“No one believes it any more and the country has been turned into a country suitable only for Labour-leaning persons.”
He said that from a promise of meritocracy, the country had moved to a situation where wives of ministers and friends of the Prime Minister’s wife were given cushy and lucrative jobs while the number of unemployed was reaching record highs.
Once again the country’s institutions were being politicised, he said, citing the army and the police as examples. With the appointment of a Labour activist as Police Commissioner the force was demoralised and the government was interfering in police investigations.
It had also dealt a blow to trust in the judiciary by bending over backwards to make sure Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, who has been censured by the Commission for the Administration of Justice, was not impeached because his son is a Labour candidate.
Dr Busuttil also criticised the government’s performance on the economy, saying trade and commerce were low, exports were down and the country was still subject to an excessive deficit procedure. In the first month of this year the deficit was up €30 million.
He said the country was experiencing a return to the dark years of Labour, with transparency being thrown out of the window and the government refusing to publish details of important deals such as the contract it had signed with Henley and Partners to start selling Maltese passports.
From a situation of zero tolerance to corruption there was now full tolerance, with the government offering an amnesty to those who committed bribery to change their electricity smart meters.
Dr Busuttil also accused the Prime Minister of choosing the wrong priorities: to have the new gas power station ready in the shortest time possible, he was allowing the people of Marsaxlokk to put their lives at risk by stationing an LNG storage tanker in the port.