Last salute in the House - Lawrence Gonzi lauds five years in power

It was the Prime Minister's swan song in Parliament yesterday evening, in a speech that signalled the start of the Christmas recess for the House of Representatives, but eminently the electoral campaign for 2013.

His reply to Opposition leader Joseph Muscat's budget speech bore the marks of a final salute, as he thanked the country for "staying united and putting aside the division of yesteryear" after some two hours of listing the accomplishments of his five-year legislature.

"I thank this country for being united, that put aside the division of yesteryear, in favour of democracy, liberty and diversity of opinions. I thank the country for having been fearless in the face of challenges and accepted the opportunities that EU accession brought us.

"I thank this country for having given us the confidence necessary to invest in the education of its children; for having believed in the equality of everybody, irrespective of their disability or orientation; and I thank our youths for having given this country the enthusiasm it needs.

"What we have accomplished in these last five years has prepared us for the challenges of the future."

The prime minister started his speech with a rundown of his stewardship of the country's economy, facing the 2008 financial crisis upon re-election as it threatened numerous jobs inside factories, to which Gonzi responded with state aid to safeguard jobs.

"Five years ago, the country chose the Nationalist part to lead government and take the right decisions... we were the authors of choices that have touched the people directly. Whatever your judgement is, five years since the electorate gave us their trust, we are giving them back a country with an economy well prepared for the challenges ahead, with a free healthcare system, better education, and a much better environment."

His 'five years' speech was a veritable list of accomplishments in the three main pillars that the prime minister has prided himself on: the economy, education, and healthcare.

He lauded his efforts in "creating" 20,000 new jobs during his legislature, negotiating Malta's funds from the EU's financial framework, increasing social benefits while keeping general healthcare free, and increasing the number of university graduates.

He revisited his previous budget measures, consolidating benefits for parents with children in childcare, private school rebates, and safeguarding full COLA increases for pensioners.

"We have changed the country to the better, and this budget is a confirmation of what we have done... but what will happen tonight is that there will be a general election. It would be better to go to the next elections with an approved budget, and I hope common sense prevails. Because tonight we will shoulder the responsibility of our choices," Gonzi said.

Gonzi was stark about the choice ahead of him: "If the budget does not pass I will go the President of the Republic and give him a date for the elections."

The prime minister also made reference to the internal troubles that plagued his party throughout the last years, but declared that the PN's turmoil was secondary to the country's challenges and the financial storm it had to weather.
"In hindsight, I believe I made the right decisions," Gonzi said.

He turned to Opposition leader Joseph Muscat, "categorically condemning" the Labour leader's style of "employing strategy without explaining his proposals for a new government."

"He criticised us on pensions, he criticised us on privatisation because he believes the state should take the place of the private sector, and he has inherited the wrong attitude of his predecessor," Gonzi said, referring to Alfred Sant. "Muscat shares the same hypocrisy and populist streak."

"Populism is an immensely dangerous instrument," Gonzi said in his dissection of Joseph Muscat. "The lesson we have learnt in these last years is that political leaders should not be scared of taking the right decisions for the reforms that a country needs. If our country needs reform, we have not been scared of carrying out such reforms... reforms that have also saved this country. Not taking such bold steps could mean leading our country to the financial ruination that afflicted other European states."

Gonzi said Muscat was playing with fire in his "apparent relish in the negative, in things going wrong" and called on the Labour leader to pay attention to his numerous pledges on reducing utility rates or immersing himself into campaigns that could cost taxpayers millions, referring to Labour's pledge to refund car registration taxation.

"Be careful. You might push the deficit to over 3% of GDP," Gonzi said referring to the Maastricht criteria limiting eurozone member states' deficits.

Gonzi's MPs acclaimed the prime minister's attacks on Labour's historic "mistake" to oppose EU membership, laying into former premier Alfred Sant and Joseph Muscat over claims that Malta would not reap more than one million euros in EU funds, or that numerous factories and businesses would close down under pressure from EU countries' competition.

"Now we're about to see Alfred Sant as Labour's new star candidate to the European Parliament," Gonzi said.

Gonzi reserved special criticism for Muscat's style of electioneering, claiming the Labour leader pandered to his audience but failed to back up his pledges with clear proposals.

"Beware of what you promise... I've seen prime ministers in Europe humiliated because of what they had promised. They chose populism instead of courageous reforms. These countries now have to borrow as much as 17 billion euros... Cyprus, much lauded by the Opposition leader, is now raising income taxes and taxes on private pensions."

The prime minister was equally dexterous when it came to listing some two dozen reductions in taxes, licences and fees, and other levies over the past five years, to the acclaim of his MPs. "These were responsible measures that we took, and still we managed to reduce the deficit, and this deficit will decrease further in the next year. And all in the midst of a financial crisis. Those who watch us tonight on their TVs know that each and every member of their family has benefited from these decisions. The Opposition leader asks us how we shall be collecting more tax, but we know that the economic growth that will happen in the next year will generate more tax revenue."

Gonzi conjured up Labour's "socialism" as "a typical ideology of being generous with other taxpayers' money", in a reply to criticism at the budgetary oversight to have minimum wage earners pay income tax. "We believe that we can help minimum wage earners better by encouraging them to work harder and earn more, and to that end we introduced a budgetary measure to give training to minimum wage earners, over a period of six months, for which they will be paid 25 euros every week."

As his speech tapered to an end, he braced himself for the inevitable: a speech by Franco Debono, the MP whose vote would finally spell the end of a 12-month tug-of-war between him and the prime minister. The election campaign had now started.