PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco slammed government's budget overruns in Parliament this evening.
The overruns amounted to nearly €160 million.
He said that such overruns in the past, like back in 2009, were used as an example by the finance minister, "yet what he did not mention was that 2009 was one of the worst years of the international financial crisis, and thus it is obvious there would be an overrun due to a situation which was beyond government's control."
"That year, government forked out more funds to help industry, factories, the tourism sector etc. That is what the Finance Minister did not say when referring to 2009 as an example of such a budgetary overrun."
"The minister also mentioned 2008, the year that saw the beginning of the financial crisis, and the year where oil prices exploded to over $100 per barrel. When making comparisons, it would be good for the minister to mention the context. Over the past years, there was no international financial or economic crisis. Oil prices were not $150 per barrel, actually they went down as far as $30 per barrel. In these circumstances, what justification does the minister have for a €160 million overrun?" he asked.
"These funds were not used to build more schools, or hospitals, otherwise government would have come to parliament and said they had to open more homes for the elderly or for persons with disability, but rather a significant amount was for recurrent expenditure. More than €2 million was spent on OPM travel expenses. €2 million was used for the acquisition of property with a public scope - and when we know much of these funds went for Café Premier etc, we begin to worry."
"Where did these excess funds, that you allowed government ministers to spend, go?" he asked.
"The reality is that the Finance Minister is allowing ministers to do what they want."
He said that government's focus is on personal favours and recurrent expenditure, rather than capital expenditure. He also said that revenue has been balancing out through one-off situations, such as the sale of the Power station
He also questioned how the number of unemployed has reduced, stating that a number have been put on schemes, such as Jobs Plus, stating that this is temporary work. Regardless, he said, these people are removed from the registry as if it were permanent employment." There are also a number of people being removed from the registry for not completely complying with the rules. While we are against all kind of abuse, you should not grab and cut people off without making the necessary verifications".