Updated 12.52pm - Added PN statement
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning accused Opposition leader Simon Busuttil of “shooting from the hip” in his declarations about the gas-fired power station and minimum wage debate.
Speaking on One Radio, Dr Muscat said that the PN leader was getting into the habit of making declarations only to backtrack at a later stage.
“According to the government’s calculations, if we were to listen to his advice and not build a new power station, we would end up with no electricity for 700 hours which is equivalent to a month,” he said.
“Do people want to spend such a long period with no power?” he asked.
The Prime Minister noted that when deciding on such matters, one needed to look at the energy requirement for the next 15 years, especially in the context of a growing economy.
Even on the minimum wage issue, the Prime Minister said, Dr Busuttil had shifted his stance. He was now backing calls to increase it, despite having hinted he was against such an idea until just a few days ago, Dr Muscat said.
“It seems that he woke up in the morning and decided to change his position. Why did not he outline such an important policy change in his Budget speech,” the Prime Minister asked.
Dr Muscat reiterated his intention to talk with social partners to reach a solution on the matter.
Spray-painting aircraft
Touching on the economy, he pointed out that a Dutch aviation company which had been mulling opening an aircraft spray-painting facility in Malta since 2010 had finally started its operations.
“The company [Aviation Cosmetics] has invested €15 million and will employ 80 workers,” he said.
This investment materialised, the Prime Minister said, because this administration had worked to ensure the company received the necessary support, contrary to what happened under the PN government.
PM trying to justify power station choice - PN
In a reaction, the Nationalist Party dismissed Dr Muscat's claims that Malta needed the new gas-fired power station to meet its energy needs.
"If the Prime Minister really wanted to address a production shortage, he definitely would not have bought all the electricity produced by the power station at an expensive rate," the party said in a statement.
It also argued that the Prime Minister's trumpeting of new investment in the aviation sector was confirmation of the PN's vision, given that the sector had been established by a PN administration.
"The Prime Minister has yet to introduce a single new economic sector to Malta," the party said.