The Greek referendum will have a clear impact on Europe's willingness to help the country remain in the Eurozone and on the extent of such help, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning.
Polling stations opened across Greece this morning as millions of Greeks are being asked whether the country should accept the harsh terms of an international bailout, with the Greek government, led by the left-wing Syriza party, urging a no vote.
In a telephone interview which aired on Labour Party's One Radio, Dr Muscat noted that in truth, the question being asked to the Greeks actually refers to an offer that is no longer there, since the deadline for accepting the bailout offered to the country has expired: Greece has been in default with the International Monetary Fund since the beginning of the month after missing a scheduled €1.6 billion payment.
The Prime Minister said that he recognised that the Greeks had been hit hard due to the "irresponsibility of their leaders," but insisted that the country could not expect financial aid if it failed to implement the necessary measures.
He said that EU leaders would have to meet in the coming days, to decide whether Greece should continue to be helped to remain in the Eurozone, and what price they were willing to pay to do help. The referendum, he said, would send a sign which would influence the final decision.
Dr Muscat said that trust was necessary for money to be lent, and he said that trust in Greece has been greatly eroded in recent days.
He added that one also had to see whether a fresh agreement could be reached in short order, and what Greece's attitude will be during these negotiations, but it was clear that the referendum's outcome would have a great impact on the assistance that would be made available and on Europe's attitude towards Greece.
The Prime Minister also emphasised that crucially, Maltese banks were not exposed to their Greek counterparts, and would not thus suffer dire consequences if the latter went bust.
The brief telephone interview also went into pension reforms, with Dr Muscat noting that in contrast to Greece, Malta was working on improving pensions, pointing out that this was only possible because of economic growth.
The aim of the reforms, he said, was to ensure that pensions were not only sustainable, but also just. He remarked that an increase in pensions had not been heard of in years, and that this would effectively lift people out of poverty.
The Pensions Strategy Group had worked on a new pensions strategy for the past two years, and a draft strategy was launched for public consultation last month. Dr Muscat said that the government agreed with many of the group's recommendation, and that he hoped for consensus on the way forward.
Health was the final topic discussed, with Dr Muscat arguing that the government had transformed a problem into an opportunity.
He said that Mater Dei Hospital's inherent problem was that it was too small, and said that while the government could have addressed it in the traditional manner - by shelling out hundreds of millions of euros itself - it instead opted to attract the Barts Medical School to Gozo whilst issuing an international call for proposals to redevelop St Luke's Hospital, Karin Grech Hospital and the Gozo General Hospital to provide more hospital beds for the general public whilst retaining most beds for private use, primarily to attract medical tourism.
Dr Muscat said that his government was proud to be a pro-business government, since this meant that jobs would be created.