PN's perceptions are Labour's realities

What the Nationalist Party believed to be perceptions and allegation of precarious employment, the PL found this to be a reality even within government employees, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning.

Muscat attacked the PN's report regarding the party electoral loss. The report blames the loss on perceptions harboured by the people that things were not as they should be. However the report moves away from pointing to the real problems such as ARMS and precarious employment.

The government believes that policies that the PL held as not functional before are still seen in the same light. Contrary to this the PN is not critising issues, which the Opposition previously outlined as functional. This is only because the PN changes parliamentary sides, Muscat said.

The way forward is to change the system. Irrelevant of who is in government it is unacceptable to have people waiting at the Emergency Department and out of stock medicines. Muscat said that a reform in primary health will be launched in the near future. The Prime Minister promised an open discussion over this reform that will include all parties involved.

The former government had frozen the Global Residence Programme because of one individual. This inhibited entrepreneurs from investing in Malta and when eight months later a different scheme was introduced only two applications were entertained. The introduction of new policies will attract developers to invest in high-end property and introduce foreign residents to take up home in new areas such as the South end of the island and Gozo.

Corrupt politicians will no longer benefit from protection while whistleblowers will be safeguarded. "It does not make sense to protect the politician and assassinate the messenger," Muscat said.  He also assured that the Party Financing Act will be introduced by the end of the year, however the government has to be sensitive to the current financial situation the PN is currently facing.

Addressing the reactions for the 100 day amnesty for inmates, Muscat pledged that any prisoner, who is found guilty of misbehavior after earning their freedom, will lose his remission. He also mentioned how irresponsibility in the ranks at the correctional facility resulted in employees being paid more overtime than basic salary. Prime Minister Muscat specified that the same people from the opposition side who critisised the amnesty, had in 2006 proposed the same measure to celebrate the appointment of a new archbishop.

"The opposition does not realize that it is critising it's own budget." Dr Muscat said that the government will not take the advice of those who allowed the country to enter the Excessive Deficit Procedure twice. Instead the government will seek the advice of those with better track records. The European Commission has secluded Malta to the EDP over the performance of the previous government and the excessive deficit the country was facing.

Joseph Muscat held that the government aims that by the end of the year the country's deficit will be under 3%.

The government will not stay reminiscing of what should have been but will look forward and continue working to better the country's situation, Muscat concluded.