Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning slammed Opposition Spokesperson on European Affairs David Stellini for his opinion piece in The Malta Independent last Friday, where the latter expressed his views that voters who voted for Labour in the last election are more profit-driven as opposed to value-driven.
In the piece last Friday, Stellini wrote "we do have values-driven politicians/voters in Malta and many of them also. But at this point in time most people want profit-driven politics. There's no doubt about that. Otherwise how can we explain the election result?"
Speaking at a political event in San Gwann this morning, Muscat said he was 'shocked' at what he read. "When asked why the Government still remains popular, he (Stellini) said that the Maltese people think about their pockets, whilst foreigners have values," said Muscat, "how can someone say that Maltese people do not have values and that they vote for this government because they don't have values?"
In the article, Stellini went on to say that those who lead a comfortable life "earning 50k plus, do place higher standards in public life and environment protection at the top of our priorities," previously stating "when we struggle to make ends meet, the first thing we think of is money to pay the bills. When we're just getting by, we wish we had money to go out for a nice dinner with our partner, " whilst factors such as greener spaces and corruption are "but second thoughts".
Muscat slammed this as a 'classist mentality'. "Who does not earn €50,000 is ignorant, and has no values," said Muscat, explaining his interpretation of the piece.
"This type of classist mentality that separates the 'haves' from 'have nots' and attributes values according to how much money you earn is a mentality from the past which our country does not have room for," he said, adding that such a mindset "forms the mindset of the Nationalist Party".
"When we meet people in poverty, we have met with honesty and dignity which trumps any millionaire," said Muscat, adding "you don't buy honesty with money."
Muscat says Beppe Fenech Adami should step down from PAC to be investigated
Turning to the investigations by the Public Accounts Committee regarding public funds in relation to the Operation of Wasteserv, Muscat called chairman and PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami hypocritical and said that the accusations made by Fenech Adami are ones "he is also guilty of."
The Committee is currently investigating the employment of more than 100 people employed before the 2017 general election.
Refering to a raport by Malta Today published today, which shows leaked government emails between 2009 and 2013 Muscat said "today we find emails from Marthese Portelli, Claudio Grech, from Castille and from Beppe Fenech Adami lobbying to Wasteserv to emply specific people."
"The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee wants to take the running of the Wasteserv Operation to court, and now we get to know that he was involving himself," said Muscat. "If he has political decency, Beppe Fenech Adami should step down and let these matters be investigated," said Muscat.