Figures published by Eurostat about price fluctuations in the European Union confirmed the problem Malta had with price rises, the Labour Party said, pointing out that Malta had had the second highest price rises in food among all eurozone members over the last year.

Only Slovenia had higher rises. The MLP added that in four particular food categories, Malta had much higher rises than the other eurozone countries. These were bread and cereals, which had gone up by 6.2 per cent in the eurozone and by 9.7 per cent in Malta; fish had gone up by 3.1 per cent in the eurozone and by seven per cent in Malta; the prices of cooking oil and fats had gone up by 8.3 per cent in the eurozone and by 15.8 per cent in Malta; and fruit rose by 8.2 per cent in the eurozone and by 15.4 per cent in Malta.

The situation in the vegetable sector was worse, the MLP said: vegetables in the eurozone had gone down in price by two per cent, but in Malta they had risen by 13.8 per cent. These sharp rises confirmed that the Nationalist Party had deceived the people before the general election and was still doing so.

Just days ago, finance minister Tonio Fenech told the country the people had nothing to worry about inflation because budgetary measures were helping people keep up with the cost of living. In fact, the MLP said, the Nationalist government was cut off from reality.

The MLP said it accepted that prices in Malta had to carry the impact of rises occurring abroad but it was not prepared to accept the government’s argument that all inflation was imported. If that were so, prices would rise at the same rate as in the eurozone, the MLP said.

It recalled that in a recent report, the EU had pointed out that the market in Malta lacked fair competition. The MLP appealed to the government immediately to implement proposals made just weeks ago by the Fair Trade Tribunal aiming to make the Office of Fair Competition independent of the government of the day and to fully equip it to be effective and give justice to the consumer.

Reining in the cost of living was one of the main priorities the government should deal with immediately to improve the quality of life, as it had promised to do before the election that was held almost three months ago, the MLP said.