Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil insisted this evening that the government’s behaviour in recent days went beyond what was acceptable in a democracy, accusing it of engaging in outright lies, insults, concealment of public information and of being intolerant of criticism.

Dr Busuttil was making an adjournment speech, following debate on a bill which would transform Enemalta into a public limited company, said that that while political controversies are a feature of every democracy, the government’s behaviour was going against the principles of democracy and liberty.

The PN leader hit out at the government’s tactic of portraying its critics as being “negative,” stating that this betrayed the government’s intolerance of criticism. What was negative, he said, was to do the wrong thing and either lie or claim that it was the right thing to do, or to respond to criticism through insults.

He noted that criticism should be addressed through civil debate, and not through insults, and also argued that intolerance of criticism was proof that one had lost the argument.

Dr Busuttil also hit out at another apparent government tactic: that of deflecting criticism by pointing out that PN governments had acted in the same manner.

“Let us agree that there had been mistakes, and even that the previous government lost the last general election because of these mistakes, and with a heavy majority… do two wrongs make a right? Has what was wrong yesterday become acceptable today,” Dr Busuttil asked.

Dr Busuttil addressed a number of recent controversies in his speech, starting with the appointment of Sai Mizzi – Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi’s wife – as special envoy to China. He said that while disagreements over public appointees were normal, the appointment of minister’s spouses was not, and was unheard of in serious and transparent countries.

The PN leader also observed that Dr Muscat lied when he said that Ms Mizzi was being paid €3,700 per month, as proven by the contract he himself presented in Parliament, which confirmed that she was being paid €73,000 a year – twice as much as he claimed. The pay package, he insisted, ultimately amounted to €13,000 a month when perks were factored in.

He added that 40 years ago, US President Richard Nixon resigned after he was caught lying; but Dr Muscat was not assuming responsibility for his own lies.

Dr Busuttil also brought up the privatisation of Enemalta, starting by stating that while this was a great controversy, such controversies were normal. But the government’s decision to keep the details of such a controversial matter hidden, he added, was an affront to the principle of transparency.

MPs, he added, are now expected to debate the law that would lead to the privatisation of the corporation without being granted access to the relevant information.

Moving on to party financing, Dr Busuttil said that his party had strived to achieve consensus with Labour’s position before the general election, as well as that of Alternattiva Demokratika, which involved a degree of state financing to reduce parties’ dependency on huge donors.

He noted that while the PN may be accused of making a U-turn, Labour changed its own position, and accused the party of seeking taxpayer money to cover its debts.

Recalling how the government recently dropped its claims on Australia Hall and other Pembroke properties owned by the Labour Party, he said that the PN was expecting a level playing field, not a situation where Labour gave itself an unfair advantage and sought to hinder its political adversaries.

Dr Busuttil also commented on the swearing in of former Labour politician Wenzu Mintoff as judge, which took place earlier today, pointing out that Dr Mintoff was the first to be appointed to the judiciary while actively involved in partisan politics.

The PN leader was also harshly critical of proposed amendments to the Local Councils Act, which, he said, were likely to see no local elections held for the next five years.

He said that such a move was one which could be expected from dictatorships, where elections would be postponed to suit the government’s agenda.

As he concluded, he insisted that recent political developments were worrying, as they were not normal controversies. Whilst appealing to the government to respect the principles of democracy and to strive for serious and civil political debate, he also appealed to the Maltese to open their eyes to what was going on.

“Because our democracy is being threatened, and if we lose democracy, we will have lost everything,” he concluded.