The Prime Minister has not only lost the people's trust but also that of the EU, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.
Dr Muscat said the European Commission had disagreed with the government's economic growth and deficit estimates for this year and 2010, and instead gave a bleaker picture.
"The EU no longer believes Lawrence Gonzi," he said during a party activity in which the party formally presented its 12 candidates for June's European Parliament elections.
While the government has predicted an economic growth of 2.2 per cent for this year and 2.5 per cent next year, the EU has set this at 0.7 per cent and 1.3 per cent.
"This shows that the Nationalist Party's estimates are not credible, not for the Maltese nor for Europeans. We are not the only ones not to believe Lawrence Gonzi - nor do Europeans," he insisted.
He also spoke about the controversy surrounding the proposed underground extension of St John's Co-Cathedral museum on which Labour will be tabling a motion in Parliament.
Dr Muscat said that while his party was in favour of a museum it should not cost €16 million, and insisted that having a restored Palazzo would cost less than the extension beneath the Cathedral being proposed.
He accused the government of lack of consultation on the matter and also on the recently published waste management strategy, unveiled last week. He said the strategy had already identified where the new pre-treatment plants will be, rather than putting this up for consultation.
Last Friday the government unveiled its waste management strategy, which will include building an incinerator at Delimara and two pre-treatment plants, one in Għallis and another in Gozo. The Sant'Antnin plant will continue to take in a third of local waste, with the rest treated at Għallis and Gozo at the new plant on the island.
But Dr Muscat said the plant in Gozo is between the only two localities - Sannat and Xewkija - with a Labour majority.
"We want to know what studies were carried out to choose these localities. Rather than Environmental Impact Assessments, voting impact assessments are more likely to have been carried out," he said.
The Resources Ministry reacted later to this point, saying the government has published a document drafted by a number of experts for public consultation over the next eight weeks.
Resources Minister George Pullicino also met PL environment spokesman Leo Brincat, the Local Councils Association and environment organisations before launching the document.
Speaking about the situation in hospitals which was recently highlighted by the Ombudsman in a damning report on waiting lists for operations, Dr Muscat promised that Labour MEPs would fight for patients' rights.
When the European Parliament discusses patient mobility, he said, they will be insisting on establishing timeframes for surgery. If the state is unable to provide surgery within the established timeframes, patients will have the right to be treated privately or abroad.
"This might cost money, but waiting also costs money," he said, adding that while Social Policy Minister John Dalli - who has described the waiting lists as "scandalous" - might be able to blame his predecessor, Dr Gonzi can only blame himself. Dr Muscat described the party's team of candidates for June's European Parliament's elections as "exceptional", a thought echoed by Labour foreign affairs spokesman George Vella.
Dr Vella said European Socialists were keen to win the election because, more than ever before, the EU needed a leadership based on progressive socialist and social democratic principles.
"As progressive socialists we believe that we should not let the EU be led by conservatives, whose open market beliefs have led to the disaster and crisis that we are currently in," he said, referring to the current global economic crisis.