Economy Minister Chris Cardona told The Malta Independent that the government should not shy away from offering assistance to private companies, as long as no laws are broken.

He was replying to question following the 4.2 million euro bailout the government offered to the operators of Cafe Premier, a decision which the Nationalist Party has been described as being sleazy after the auditor general lambasted the government in a report table in Parliament.

“I don’t think that we should be afraid of offering assistance, as long as the assistance is legal.

“That is one of the leverages that we can exert as a government. I do not think it has opened a ‘Pandora’s box,’ the investigation has been conducted, it has been done because the government had asked for the investigation, and the report is there for all to see.”

“Banks do it continuously, even government’s do it continuously. At the moment there is a discussion on the bailing out of a whole country, let alone of an economic operator.

 

“I think you have to balance the rights and obligations of government together with the survival of business operators. This has to be done of course within the legal parameters, and the legal frameworks that we work with.”