Muscat calls Austin Gatt BWSC ‘defense lawyer’

Muscat said that former minister Jesmond Mugliette, who was responsible as a cabinet member in 2006 for formulating a new energy strategy, opted for a gas energy strategy, “whereas government now opted for heavy fuel oil, and made this possible by changing the entire strategy.” Muscat quoted Mugliette as saying that he wasn’t informed of the changes in the strategy. “This is worrying,” Muscat said, “because it suggests that the entire cabinet was not informed, and the decision was made by one person we are not aware of.”

The Labour leader said the party accepted government’s request for help on the issue of Air Malta, “because this is an issue of national interest, and we opted for the harder road to see if the Prime Minister keeps his promise and to remind him to keep his promise.”

“Government has been crushing Air Malta for a quarter of a century,” Muscat said, “We want to know what strategy government has in mind for Air Malta, what it has in mind for low cost Airlines, what vision government has for tourism- it lacks strategy and there is obviously no coordination between the responsible political figures of Air Malta and the MTA.”

Muscat quoted a story published by MaltaToday on Air Malta, where the newspaper revealed that it is not true government made a formal plea to the European Commission for a €100 million injection into the company. “If this is the case, and it appears that nobody is objecting, why didn’t government ask the EC last year, when it possibly could have avoided the mess we have now?”

Sticking to the Gozitan theme, Muscat said that the island’s potential is not being exploited enough, with only half a million euros from this year’s budget having been allocated for marketing Gozo overseas.

“There is lack of priority on behalf of government; so many things were promised to the Gozitans- such as a museum for modern art, a business incubation centre for technology, new law courts a multilevel car park and many others- but never fulfilled,” Muscat said.

He added it is “embarrassing” how nobody claimed responsibility for the “mess” left in Dwejra, despite enthusiasm on behalf of government for an Eco-Gozo.

“Gozitans are now fed up of all these double standards… Gozo could really become a motor of our economy,” Muscat said.

Gozitan Labour MP Justyne spoke briefly about the poor standard of living of many Gozio residents. She said 18% of the population is living in the risk of poverty, while the figure rises to 43% when including pensioners and vulnerable groups.

“This is alarming for us Gozitans; our standard of living is significantly lower than that the Maltese,” Caruana said. “We lack investment, have lower wages, have lack of opportunities and double insularity.”

“Eco-Gozo is the only thing that government thinks will save this island; with zero credentials in Eco-Gozo so far as can be seen from the Dwejra mess and Xlendi drainage disaster amongst others,” Caruana said.