The Prime Minister said this morning that it was "only natural" that there were some "movements" in the wake of a Cabinet reshuffle such as that announced on Tuesday, because there were people who wanted to participate more and contribute more to the country.

Dr Gonzi made his comment at the PN club in Luqa after The Sunday Times reported this morning that an exchange of e-mails had exposed PN backbench unrest.

(see http://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100214/local/e-mails-expose-pn-backbench-unrest)

Dr Gonzi said that it was important that one viewed matters in the national rather than the individual context. Posts were there for the people to serve, not to be served, and his primary concern when deciding on the reshuffle was that Malta would not lose its focus of riding the international economic crisis.

Malta had managed to escape most of the impact of the crisis and, Dr Gonzi said, he feared that as a result some people felt that everything was going smoothly. Yet one only needed to see what was happening in neighbouring countries to see the storm which Malta had to battle.

Dr Gonzi explained that he had decided to split the Social Policy Ministry because the problems of hospital and primary health care needed direct focus by a minister.

Similarly, with the family facing attacks from every direction, including the Opposition, the government felt the need to respond.

The governemnt wanted solutions to the problems faced by broken families and separated couples, but it also wanted solutions for families to remain united, Dr Gonzi said.

The reshuffle had also placed greater focus on consumer affairs, particularly in view of a situation where inflation had continued to rise in Malta while it had dropped abroad.

VISIT TO GULF COUNTRIES

Dr Gonzi said his primary focus remained investment and job creation. Yesterday he met official from SR Technics, who are opening an aircraft maintenance base in Malta, and there appeared to be other areas for possible investment in Malta.

With that in mind, Dr Gonzi said, he would also be visiting countries in the Gulf region - where one of the major SR Technics investors was based - and he would seek to tap such investment for Malta.