“I will keep an open mind and an open channel of communication but I will not wait,” he said. Dr Gonzi was addressing an activity organised by APAN – a group

representing the PN’s elderly supporters – on the occasion of their 15th anniversary.

During the drive from his office to the event, held in Mellieha, said Dr Gonzi, he had a chance to go over a number of reforms the government had implemented, or was in the process of implementing, over the past 10 months. The opposition had shot down every single one of these reforms as negative changes, he said.

“I do not expect the opposition to state that it agrees with the government, but to show the will to agree on a number of issues that are key to the country’s future, especially in respect to pensions’ reform,” he added.

Taking the drydocks as an example, he said that when the government announced its plans to reform the enterprise, the Labour Party told everyone that this was nothing more than an effort to dismantle the docks. “I can proudly say that recent figures show that the docks are finally on the right track,” said Dr Gonzi.

The MLP took the same stand on the reform of the Gozo Channel, he pointed out, adding that on Monday the company had revealed that it had reduced its losses from just under a million liri to Lm27,000. The same happened with Air Malta, he said, which is also doing relatively well despite the difficulties it is facing due to rising oil prices.

Remaining on the subject of oil prices, he said that the opposition is trying to use the situation for political advantage, adding that the price rise was affecting the whole world. The opposition is now saying that the government has embarked upon a campaign preparing people for a raise in water and electricity bills, knowing well that it is in the country’s interest for the government to address the issue. He added that oil prices have risen four-fold since the Labour government raised water and electricity prices in 1996.

Speaking of the Mater Dei hospital, he said that Dr Sant had acted irresponsibly over this matter, making statements that could give Skanska an advantage when the negotiations were at their most delicate stage. Now, Dr Gonzi stressed, the opposition leader was doing the same thing with the negotiations regarding the Malta-Gozo helicopter service.

He said that the government was holding talks with one of the most renowned firms in Europe in the field, adding that Dr Sant’s comments may sabotage the process. “It seems that Dr Sant’s solution to the country’s problems are trips on a helicopter,” he said, making reference to a symbolic flight Dr Sant made this week, protesting over the closure of the present service next Sunday.

“When elected to government in 1996, that was the only thing that he did for the waste treatment issue – fly over Maghtab in a helicopter,” he said. The nationalist government had closed the Maghtab and Qortin landfills and introduced the eco-contribution to stimulate private enterprise to engage in collection schemes, along with the wider waste-management strategy that is being implemented.

He questioned the MLP’s stance over pensions’ reform, saying that Dr Sant’s solution was to leave everything as it is, as the problem will not be an issue for another 20 years. This sort of reform requires forward planning, Dr Gonzi stressed, adding that the present maximum pension of Lm4,300 a year was already creating serious problems for people who earned well in excess of this amount and suddenly had to adapt to this income from one day to the next as soon as they reached pensionable age.

Now, he said, the Labour party is taking that same attitude towards reform of the ports, saying that this is just an attempt to attack the Cargo Handling Company. Dr Gonzi emphasised that all the reforms he had mentioned were giving good results and showed the government’s vision, as was the case with the its position vis-a-vis the EU issue.

Malta is at an important juncture, as is the rest of Europe, he said, pointing out that today he will be in Rome with heads of state from the rest of the EU to sign the Constitution. “You can probably understand the significance of this more than I can, because you lived through the war,” he said.

Dr Gonzi also spoke of recent developments in the EU Commission, saying that he was optimistic that the difficulties regarding the present Commission line-up will be overcome in the next round. Dr Gonzi said he is confident that the solution will emphasise the European values of freedom of expression.