PN never stooped as low as Labour government – Busuttil

Past Nationalist administrations committed a number of mistakes which the party must learn from, however never stooped as low as the current Labour government, PN leader Simon Busuttil said.

Busuttil was being interviewed by MediaToday's managing editor Saviour Balzan at the Granaries in Floriana.

 On the electoral defeat, the PN leader said "we have done our soul-searching exercise and now, six months later we have to look forward. I was not there to take credit for the successes as I only entered the national fray recently but I must almost admit that we did commit some mistakes. We did our fair share of mistakes and we have learnt from them."

He added that the PN "had no time on concentrate on its own internal situation because it was bust running the country. However, we were not greedy and the party did not swell its coffers while in government."

Asked how the PN will overcome the narrowing ideological gap between Labour and the PN, Busuttil said the PN underestimated the Labour Party in the last election however, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat sold himself really well to the people. The Labour Party was much better than us in selling itself and finally win the election. However is it capable of governing?"

He said that the PN must certainly learn how to market itself better and it was a pity because the PN had much more to offer than Labour, underlining that "it's all about content."  

The PN leader said that the two major parties do look alike in many aspects, however in the last six months, the Labour government gave itself a false facelift and tried to be everything for everyone.

"However, reality is catching up with them and their mask is falling off. The falsity of the 'Malta for all' slogan is now being exposed," Busuttil said adding that Labour's promise of meritocracy was nothing but an empty slogan.

At one point, Busuttil had to calm the noisy crowd who was hustling Balzan as he was asking the PN leader whether the party had any credibility in criticising the Labour government over its lack of meritocracy.

As the crowd calmed down Busuttil answered the question and while admitting that the former PN government was far from perfect and "could have done more" to ensure that meritocracy was applied across the board, Busuttil insisted that Labour appointments were "shocking."

In clear reference to the recent events in which the government appointed the home affairs ministry deputy chief of staff on the AFM promotions selection board and engaged the energy minister's wife at Malta Enterprise, Busuttil said "We have never appointed a former party journalist on the army board of selection. We have also never given a job to a minister's wife. We have never fallen so low," Busuttil said to loud applause.

On the investment at state utility Enemalta by the Chinese government, Busuttil said that he stands by his criticism of what he said was a deal done behind the country's back, "even if it is not populist."

The PN leader said that if he was Prime Minister he would have dealt with the 800 million debts at Enemlata differently and certainly he would have not sold the majority of energy generation to foreign companies.

"We would have set up a special purpose vehicle, which would have taken over the company's debts and assets, including the priceless land Enemlata owns in Marsa. It was something which we kicked off, but unfortunately never completed."  

Asked whether the former PN administration had lost control at Enemalta, Busuttil said that the hike in the utility bills was one of the reasons why the PN lost the election and although the PN had done its utmost to control the energy tariffs, this was clearly not enough.

Busuttil reassured that the PN was and remains pro-business however, "we will never sell our souls as the Labour Party did by promising everything to the business community."

"However, one of the lessons we must learn from the electoral defeat is to have greater control on the administration of the country and ensure that the government is efficient in its entirety if we are in office."  

Busuttil said that he was not aware whether the party was making use of the services of Nexos Co Ltd in this evening's party activity and the rest of the Independence Day celebrations.

The PN leader said that all companies providing services during the five-day event would be paid immediately, and noted that Nexos co Ltd was no longer owned and controlled by the much criticised home affairs chief of staff, Silvio Scerri.

He also said that the PN was not against a wage rise, including a minimum wage rise, "however the PN was always in favour of attracting investment and creating better jobs and better wages."