Malta’s deficit to decrease, Opposition offers no solutions, says PM

Addressing a political activity in Qormi, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi reiterated that government will remain focused on giving the people what they need.

“Next Tuesday’s confidence vote in Parliament will confirm the confidence this government enjoys and from there we will continue moving forward in the best interest of this country,” Gonzi said.

Received by cheers as the PN activists chanted out his name, Gonzi said that the Opposition leader only wanted to confuse, criticise, and discredit the certificates government receives by the European Union.

“We have been three years waiting for the Opposition leader to come out with proposals. The only concrete proposal we have seen so far is of Muscat telling a journalist to spy on her employer.”

Referring to the immigration problem, Gonzi said that Muscat only proposed that Malta should send back the asylum seekers from where they came from: “He told us to do what the Italians were doing. During the Libyan crisis, while the rest of us were faced with serious problems and finding solutions, we realise that Muscat was only writing emails.”

Gonzi said Muscat did not care and did not feel it was important that he (Gonzi) was participating with euro zone and world leaders to try and find a solution to the financial crisis: “15 days ago I met with the foreign leaders to try and find a solution to the euro zone crisis. We spent till 4am in Brussels discussing the issue. But this obviously means nothing for Muscat.”

Gonzi also hit out at former Prime Minister Alfred Sant who, Gonzi said, was more interested in delaying the ratification of the EFSF and the EU bailout measures when the rest of the world “was waiting for us”.

“But then again, Sant was the one who froze Malta’s application to join the European Union. And he has remained frozen since then.”

Gonzi said that this only goes to show that Labour is still sceptical about Malta’s accession to the EU.

“The public expects perseverance, discipline and determination. And we promise we will continue to do our duty and deliver what the people expect until the end.”

Referring to the upcoming Budget, the Prime Minister said environment, energy, education, the family and creation of jobs would be the priority.

“What is my first interest? Family. What is the interest of the Labour Party? Winning the general elections,” Gonzi said.

“Muscat said that he has calculations that would lead to the reduction of electricity bills. I challenge him to come forward and publish them in the national interest.”

Gonzi said that Muscat should give the guarantee that he would still be able to keep the utility bills low, even if the international oil prices spike.

“How do you guarantee that you will not lead us in the same situation Greece is in, Mr Opposition Leader?” the PM said.

He went on to say that the budget would reflect how a Nationalist government plans long term and not for the general elections.

“We are not a rich country but we are doing our utmost to reduce the deficit. In fact, we will be announcing that Malta will be one of the few countries that managed to bring down its deficit under the 3%, despite the international crisis.

“Other countries wish to be us, to be able to announce that they reduced their deficit. We will manage to obtain this result by the end of the year with the measures that the Labour Party opposed. But, at the end of the day, we have secured results.”

Gonzi said that Budget 2012 would continue creating jobs: “We are the party which creates jobs and we will continue doing so.”