He said that Dr Sant had been harping on about the problems with the construction of Mater Dei for months. “I expected him to come on board with us to find a solution for the good of the whole country, not to try and undermine our position.” Dr Gonzi said that before Dr Sant’s speech in parliament, he had been given indications from advisors that both the government negotiating team (FMS) and Skanska had reached common ground on many of the issues related to the hospital, and that agreement on the whole was in the offing.

“Then, he goes and makes a speech like that, which was specifically aimed at undermining our position. What happened? Skanska came back with an offer that was absolutely unacceptable,” said Dr Gonzi.“I sent for the highest ranking Skanska official in Malta and told him that the offer was unacceptable to us. Nobody will mess with me like that when it comes to issues of national importance that will affect all the Maltese people,” he said.

Dr Gonzi said that he expected Dr Sant and his party to try and forget partisan politics and to help the country get back to prosperity. “Does he not realise that he is damaging Malta? And does he not realise that what he is doing is damaging to all Maltese people?”

He said that only a matter of hours after their deal had been turned down, Skanska put forward a counter proposal. “I always said that government will pay for what it should be paying for, but it will not pay for things it had not authorised,” he said.

Dr Gonzi said the second offer by Skanska was an improved one. “But it was still not what I wanted. We also demand a fixed date so we can have this hospital up and running.” He said that government would leave all doors ajar for now. He said that the opposition needed to stop putting spokes in the wheel.