Official statistics are glossing over the growing number of people living in poverty or struggling to make ends meet, Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia said on Sunday.
Speaking at a political event in Żabbar, Dr Delia said one in 10 people were now finding in difficult to pay their rent or loan repayments, figures he compared to “Spain or Portugal at the very worst of their economic depression”.
Some 70,000 people, he added, were now living in a state of financial poverty, failing to keep up with their basic needs despite having steady employment.
“There is work, but people are having to work longer and longer hours to have a chance of earning a decent living. We are creating a form of modern slavery,” Dr Delia said. “This is a government that has betrayed the workers, and people are slowly waking up to this.”
The PN leader accused Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of having deceived the people with his claims of lower electricity bills when Malta was the only EU country to have registered an increase - seven per cent - in the second half of last year.
Eurostat figures, he said, showed that Malta had the seventh highest bills in the EU, behind countries with higher standards of living.
He pledged to fight for the 80 per cent of consumers the PN has said are being overcharged on their bills. He said the party had received hundreds of complaints on the matter and would be following these up with the authorities to ensure they took action.
Rule of law
Turning to rule of law concerns, days after a follow-up visit by a European Parliament delegation, Dr Delia warned that the government’s action had tarnished Malta’s reputation and would have serious repercussions.
“We are now struggling to defend our country’s name outside Malta,” Dr Delia said. “Serious investment will not come to a country that is not serious. The only investors we will attract are those that know we close an eye on due diligence, that the government is ready to cosy up to criminals.”
He added: “You’ll lose your licence if you use your mobile while driving, but not if you open a bank with dirty money.”
In a statement, the Labour Party said Dr Delia had failed to understand that the country wanted to do away with negativity and attempts to damage the country.
The party accused Dr Delia of opposing investment and working to harm Malta's interests abroad.