PM Gonzi: 'Muscat does not care about you'

Adds Labour's reaction at 12:48pm

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said recent events in Parliament have shown the Labour Party at its worse. He said Labour leader Joseph Muscat "is only interested in becoming the youngest Prime Minister in history" and does not care about the country's interests.

"Joseph Muscat does not care about your priorities but is only concerned with his own priorities, he only cares about becoming the youngest Prime Minister in Maltese history."

Talking during a live interview on the Nationalist Party's radio station, Gonzi said "we have overcome numerous difficult situations but we must not rest on our laurels and we must make sure to remain focused on helping our families."

"What are families they interested in? They are interested in everyday issues. If a family is concerned about job safety than that is their main concern and we must resolve it," Gonzi said.

He added that "while we were busy discussing the Opposition's motions in Parliament this is the reality that our families are facing and the problems the government has to tackle."

"We are not perfect and we will not find a solution to every problem but results speak for themselves," Gonzi said.

Gonzi stressed that he is sorry to see the Labour Party trying to paint a bleak picture while ignoring or twisting positive news.

"The Labour Party is power hungry but families do not care about who is power hungry but they only care about health, jobs and education. As I said earlier this week, we will not let anything distract us from tackling these issues," Gonzi said.

In reference to the events that unfolded in Parliament this week, Gonzi asked "what advantage has the Labour Party taken from all this. Today's Labour is reminding us of the old Malta Labour Party which was obsessed with holding on to power and used the police to beat Nationalist supporters at Tal-Barrani," Gonzi said as he listed a number of crimes including the death of Nardu Debono, the frame-up of Pietru Pawl Busuttil and the murder of Raymond Caruana.

He added that Labour is still led by the same people who were involved in these events. "The Labour Deputy leader Anglu Farrugia was a police inspector back then and he was not overjoyed when I asked him about his involvement in these events."

"Labour MP Marie Louise Coleiro Preca who was the Malta Labour Party's secretary general in the eighties also took offence at my comments about her involvement.

The truth hurts, although they were not responsible for the crimes which took place they were responsible for leading the country."

Gonzi said Muscat is surrounded by extremists such as Evarist Bartolo who scuppered the University student stipends despite promising the contrary which Gonzi said was a result of the Labour Party's decision to replace VAT with CET.  

The Prime Minister also said that the people surrounding Muscat who claim to be the most competent were responsible for introducing ridiculous laws and taxes. He said they were economically incompetent and introduced unsustainable taxes.

On the other hand we have presented sustainable measures which we have made together with the private sector and social partners.

Gonzi underlined the fact that Labour leader Joseph Muscat is surrounded by people who were involved in such episodes.

On the Opposition's motion calling for Carm Mifsud Bonnici's resignation which was approved after Nationalist MP Franco Debono voted with Labour, Gonzi said the Opposition was not convinced of its own arguments while discussing the "unjust" motion.

"When we took important and tough decisions to reform the Dry-docks and Sea Malta, Joseph Muscat and Labour took to the streets because they did not agree with such difficult decisions," Gonzi said.

On the motion calling for the resignation of Malta's permanent representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana, Gonzi said the Labour Party has no ethical integrity as it now chose to table a motion against a public official who is not an MP who obeys government's orders.

"We are on the right side of history and we condemn this unethical, hypocritical immoral and opportunist behaviour."

Gonzi went on to explain that in the past few years Labour has opposed every reform the government has undertaken including the transport and pension reforms.

Speaking about the government's achievements in job creation Gonzi noted that the financial services sector grew as did the aviation and pharmaceutical sectors employing hundreds of persons.

"Muscat says this was a coincidence but we have proved in the past that we are capable of overcoming such problems and we are capable of doing it again," Gonzi said.

Gonzi also spoke about the official statistics which show that Malta has entered in recession. "This is worrying but we must put things in perspective. While Muscat talks about guarantees, Spain has just asked for a 100 billion euros bailout and Greece Italy, Cyprus even the UK are facing serious problems."

"A genuine Labourite family is realising that other countries are facing tough times and we run the risk of being effected since we are exposed to other economies."

Gonzi added that although Muscat is gloating, "we must wait for the results we will obtain in the coming months. Nothing is cast in stone but signals are positive in tourism, industry and job creation."

He expressed his optimism for the future because "despite external problems, Malta has a sound economic foundation."

The Prime Minister also spoke at length on disabled persons, noting that major strides forward had been made "although there was still a lot which needs to be done in the sector."

He explained that 20 years ago children with intellectual disabilities used to be placed in special schools but nowadays they are attending normal schools.

In reaction to Labour's proposal to house disabled persons in community homes, Gonzi said that while the church had been providing accommodation for the disabled for many years other homes in the community are being built to house disabled people in their own environment once the parents died.

Gonzi underlined the government's project to provide disabled persons with a personal assistant. "This is not an easy project as the assistant would live with the disabled person throughout the day so this person must be chosen by the disabled person," Gonzi said as he explained that a pilot project is currently underway.

In his concluding comments, Gonzi said that in the coming weeks he will hold further web conferences where he will be answering questions submitted through the PN's mychoice social media site.

While stressing that the Nationalist Party was the pioneer of public dialogue, Gonzi urged listeners to use this tool because "it is very useful to the party to understand and be close to the people."

In reaction to Gonzi's interview, the Labour Party said the Prime Minister reconfirmed that his government is ignoring the economic problems while failing to understand what Maltese families and businesses are going through.

"If the Prime Minister does not even recognize that Malta is in recession, how can we expect him to resolve the problem."

Labour said this confirms that the government does not have the economic credentials to lead Malta out of the recession.