The government led by Lawrence Gonzi has steered our country through difficult moments. Other countries failed. Their unemployment increased. Their taxes were raised while their social benefits were slashed. This created instability.
There is uncertainty because people, public officials and investors fear Labour- George Pullicino
In Malta, the government introduced schemes to generate jobs in the face of international uncertainty. Where jobs were at risk, we assisted factories to invest further. Thus, in four years, we generated 20,000 jobs and saved another 5,000. Yet, the opposition seemingly prefers instability and uncertainty.
Ironically, the instability and uncertainty is being created by the opposition, which, upon hearing a government MP criticise Peter, put forward a motion against Peter, and upon hearing a government MP criticise Paul, put forward a motion against Paul.
There is uncertainty because people, public officials and investors fear Labour. People fear that Labour Finance Minister Edward Scicluna will remove stipends, as he has so often written. Investors fear that a Labour Minister for the Economy, Karmenu Vella, will bring about unemployment, as was the case in every Labour government that he formed part of.
The prevailing situation is a result of the political opportunism espoused by an opposition that has no values. Our country needs to continue to be led cautiously and with vision not by a Labour Party that is only interested in gaining power and, in the words of Labour MP Adrian Vassallo, “the sole aim of which is to bring down the Nationalist government, with nothing beyond that”.
When he was elected leader of the Malta Labour Party four years ago, Joseph Muscat stated that his ambition was to become Prime Minister by the time he was 39 years old. He spoke about his own ambitions, rather than your hopes and needs. We seek out your ambitions and work towards enabling you to achieve them. The political values between us and Labour are in stark contrast – June 1.
Exemplary
Today, the opposition took aim at Carm Mifsud Bonnici. A person I have known since I was 16 years old. A person of principle and conviction and a character based on values and upstanding behaviour. Somebody who has always looked out for the underdog. What irony! And the members of the opposition unscrupulously vote to humiliate him.
Carm will continue to be mentioned for his work on irregular migration and our obligation to address this phenomenon on the basis of principle and not opportunism, as the Leader of the Opposition did in the past when he stated that such helpless individuals should be left at sea.
Together with Richard Cachia Caruana, Tonio Borg and the Prime Minister, Carm worked and fought to place this issue at the forefront of the European agenda. This also led to Malta hosting the European Asylum and Support Office. There are still other countries in the EU that do not as yet host a European agency.
Because he is a gentleman, Carm accepted this condemnation, despite knowing that it was undeserved. He chose to resign not because he failed but because he was the sacrificial lamb for those who have a blind thirst for power and vindication.
At this time, my thoughts go out to Carm and his family, particularly his wife, Sandra, who attended all sittings that discussed the opposition motion calling for his resignation. Take heart, Carm. The struggle continues and I know that you will be at the frontline with us, giving your full contribution as always – May 30.
Pressures
This time of year is always characterised by studies and the stress of exams for students at every level of education. We are in duty bound to ensure that, not only do we enhance the quality of education, but also make it more accessible. This means that we need to seek means through which every student may excel with the least possible barriers. This leads me to note those who are sitting for their Matriculation exams, that is, A-levels and intermediates, which are essentially a key to further studies at the University.
At the moment, an anomaly in the system exists, where students who do well in some subjects yet fail in others are made to repeat all subjects once again the following year. This effectively means that the successful results previously obtained are ignored. Subsequently, many students lose heart and do not try again. I believe that exams are a tool to measure the skills that the student has developed and not a tool to see whether a student has the stamina and is capable of passing many exams at one go.
I therefore believe that the system needs to be amended. It should allow students who successfully sat for exams to retain their grades and combine them with results achieved the following year to be able to enter the University. Students should also be able to decide for themselves whether they would like to stagger their exams gradually over more than one year and, if the necessary exam results are obtained, they should be able to enter the University.
In this way, we would encourage students to make an effort, even if they feel that they would not be able to achieve all the necessary results in one go. Any undue stress may therefore be avoided. I believe in the potential of every individual and will therefore do my utmost to ensure that the University system and entrance criteria are amended – May 29.
Autogas
A few days ago, Liquigas Malta launched autogas. The first fuel station that will be providing this service is at Malta International Airport.
Autogas is already used by almost seven million cars across Europe, amounting to two per cent of the cars in the EU. If this were to increase to 10 per cent, the EU would generate 350 million tons less of CO2 a year, governments would save €20 billion in external costs, including health related expenses due to air pollution, and consumers would save €41 billion on fuel.
Aside from reducing CO2, cars that use such fuel generate less NOx, which is the cause of many chronic illnesses and cancer.
The use of such fuels is not only to the benefit of the environment but also the consumer’s pocket. This is because autogas is 50 per cent cheaper than unleaded petrol and 46 per cent cheaper than petrol. In fact, the current price of autogas is 75c a litre while unleaded petrol is almost double at €1.50.
This step follows up on the National Climate Change Mitigation Strategy, whereby Action 65 of this strategy states that “the Malta Resources Authority will work with the appropriate private stakeholders to introduce autogas as an accessible and affordable substitute for fuel for vehicle drivers”.
Vehicle engines need to be converted to be able to run on this fuel. It is calculated that the costs to carry out this conversion will be redeemed within a year as a result of the money saved on fuel. The conversion may be carried out at stations that are purposely certified by the MRA.
We didn’t wait for the fuel to be launched on the market to issue regulations for those who may carry out conversions on vehicles but issued regulations in August 2010 so that preparations to obtain the relevant licences may be made beforehand.
This investment is also being carried out due to the fact that we privatised Enemalta’s gas sector. As a result of such privatisation, the new gas plant in Bengħajsa will be completed in a few weeks, which was made possible by over €20 million of private investment. This means that the old plant in Qajjenza, around which a housing estate was built in the 1980s, will be dismantled. The government therefore wanted to close down this plant to remove the danger for families living there – May 28.
http://georgepullicino.blogspot.com
The author is Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs.