The electorate would find mistakes made by the Labour government hard to forgive as they expected much higher standards from the PL than from the PN, the Prime Minister said yesterday at a political activity in Rabat.
“Even if the PN commits a truckload of mistakes it would be barely noticeable for the people as they expect no better from them,” Joseph Muscat said.
On the other hand, a single shortcoming from Labour would stand out and immediately attract criticism.
“This is perfectly understandable as we do not want to be in the same boat as those who governed this country for the previous 25 years,” he said.
Looking ahead to the second part of Labour’s five-year term in office, Dr Muscat promised it “would be even better” but acknowledged there were still people below the poverty line. “We understand such circumstances and our aim is to support the most vulnerable and create a new middle class,” he said. “We have the will, strength and courage to do all this.”
Referring to official figures published last week about disabled persons in employment, he expressed hope that a solution to a dispute between the government and employers was not far away.
Looking back at the first half of this legislature, the Prime Minister recalled how soon after being elected to power, the Labour government had learnt that State-energy company Enemalta was in a much worse situation than had been feared, as it was €1 billion in the red.
Rather than blaming the outgoing PN-led administration, the PL started working on tackling the situation, which ultimately meant that none of Enemalta’s employees lost their job.
“This government has managed to do a complete turnaround as the debate has shifted from the expected increase in utility bills to their reduction.
“From a company which made losses, I am hopeful Enemalta will soon make profit while making unprecedented investments in the energy sector.”
Enemalta, Dr Muscat said, was pouring €80 million into a wind farm project in Montenegro as part of an international consortium, and the profits would be channelled into more projects in Malta.
Touching on the future of Air Malta, he said the company had huge potential but the last PN government was only interested in keeping it afloat until the last general election.