Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi insisted this evening that the decisions on the water and electricity tariffs were taken with an eye on safeguarding jobs and competitiveness.

Speaking in Parliament in an obvious reference to the demonstration planned by the trade unions - which he did not directly mention - Dr Gonzi said the government and the unions sometimes disagreed on important issues because they looked at them from different angles.

His experience showed, however, that every problem, however complex, was solved through compromise when matters were discussed around a table.

He was sure that the trade unions knew of the impact which the energy issue could have on places of work and competitiveness. The government, therefore, had taken decisions which ensured that the country could best employ its resources where they could be most productive.

“My appeal to the trade unions is to understand me. I cannot accept requests which will hurt places of work and undermine competitiveness,” Dr Gonzi said.

He added that over the past weeks and days he had met all those who asked to meet him, including the employer associations – representing thousands of jobs - with whom a long meeting was held the day following his visit to China.

Together they had sought a difficult compromise based on the principles that everybody had to pay for his own consumption; that the country needed to invest to have the energy it needed; that it needed to shift to alternative energy; and that it should not have in place mechanisms which encouraged waste.

Another meeting, on October 27 led to a compromise in the context of present day realities and jobs.

As a result, millions of euros which used to go on subsidies on energy could now be deployed in other areas, including alternative energy.

Importantly, this decision would also bring about a change of mentalities so as not to tolerate waste.

“We need to look realities straight in the eye and change what needs to be changed. Let us help those who need help, but let us stop waste, let us improve efficiency and introduce more incentives for alternative energy”, Dr Gonzi said.