Transport and Communications Minister Austin Gatt this evening urged the Labour Party not to play with words over the privatisation of the dockyard.
Speaking in Parliament in reaction to comments made on Monday and yesterday by MLP deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia, Dr Gatt said the records of the House clearly showed Dr Farrugia having said on Monday that he agreed with privatisation, and everybody took that to mean agreement on the privatisation of the shipyard.
It was only later that Dr Farrugia added "in principle".
Dr Gatt said the MLP needed to be clear about whether or not it agreed with the privatisation process. The party was not believed before the election, and it would still not be believed if it continued to play with words, despite having a new leader.
At the beginning of yesterday's sitting Dr Farrugia said in Parliament that the opposition did not agree with the privatisation of Malta Shipyards as it was being carried out by the government, without consultation.
Speaking in Parliament on a point of order when the House was about to approve the minutes of yesterday's sitting, Dr Farruigia referred to his comments during question time on Monday and insisted that he had said that the opposition agreed with privatisation only "in principle."
Meanwhile, Labour leader Joseph Muscat speaking in a Net TV interview said that the government should study models for the future of Malta Shipyards which assured a future for the workers.
He said the dockyard had a future only if the government did not continue to take decisions on its own, but in consultation with the opposition and the trade unions.
While the MLP was not against the privatisation of Malta Shipyards in principle, models adopted abroad should be considered, such as partial privatisation. And privatisation of the dockyard should not be the same as the privatisation of Mid-Med Bank and Sea Malta.
It was unacceptable that the government wanted to reduce the workforce even before new owners indicated how many workers they needed and in what skills.
It also needed to be ensured that workers that went to the private sector did not end up unemployed after a few months, Dr Muscat said.