PM Gonzi goes on the offensive, warns against return to socialism

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said a Labour government would drag Malta back to the "dark days of extreme socialism" by copying policies that were better suited for other countries which are in trouble.

Speaking in an interview on the PN's Radio 101, Gonzi accused Labour leader Joseph Muscat of copying the 'youth guarantee' campaign from the European Socialist Party (PES).

Gonzi noted that the PES campaign was designed for other European countries with acute unemployment problems and not for "Malta's thriving education sector."

In an outright offensive against the Labour Party, Gonzi said "No matter how much blue they wear and use in their back drops, they are still the Labour Party, and there is a big difference between both parties. I will not let Joseph Muscat hold the country back, as the Labour Party is trying to do by sending us back to the dark socialist days."

He added that Joseph Muscat is against liberalisation. "After criticising every single project we've ever come up for years he is now admitting that investment is the only way forward, however only because the European Socialist Party are saying so." 

Gonzi said Muscat models himself on the former Socialist Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and wants Malta to implement the same measures proposed by Zapatero which led Spain to ruin.

He explained that over 50% of Spanish youngsters are unemployed, while the Maltese government has created 20,000 new jobs in the last four years.

"In addition in the last four years we have seen 20,000 new graduates come out of our university and higher education facilities," Gonzi added.

Gonzi re-assured listeners that the Nationalist administration will retain student stipends which are "an investment in the country's human resources."

On the other hand, Gonzi warned, "the people who used to try to keep University exclusive and inaccessible unless you had a sponsor (parrinu) are still important members of the Labour Party." Gonzi also warned that Labour cannot be trusted with the education of Malta's future generations.

"Today I believe in our country more than ever before. We have weathered the storm and come out stronger. We have managed to turn challenges into opportunities through creativity and imagination. We are a greatly talented island and although sometimes we get distracted by our differences, at the end of the day we are competent people."

Gonzi also pledged to keep attracting more foreign investment and said that in the past few weeks a Dutch aviation company announced that it will investing €22 million in Malta while a gaming company also declared its intentions to expand its operations and create more jobs.

He also said the government is committed to keep improving the infrastructure and work hard to ensure that generations of graduates would be able to find employment.

On the Opposition motions calling for the resignation of Malta's permanent representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana and Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Gonzi said the government will not be intimidated by such moves.

"The Opposition is showing its true colours and is trying to force people to resign by inventing false claims. The Opposition is choosing personal attacks over debate. This is unethical behaviour," Gonzi said.