I listened to Opposition Leader Alfred Sant’s reply in parliament to the budget speech from Brussels. Once again, what emerged were Dr Sant’s well-known tactics of promises that are not maintained and lack of concrete guidelines of how our country can progress and challenge today’s situations.
The same tactic was used when Dr Sant was in government, 10 years ago. In those days the Opposition Leader promised us that he would remove the VAT but then he introduced the CET. This affected the whole economy and these effects are still with us today. Promises can be made but our people want to know how the changes will be carried out and what measures will be taken. Our people want answers.
Dr Sant told us that Lm100 of 2003 today has a value of Lm94. Just as a reminder, did Dr Sant forget that he proposed to devaluate the Maltese lira and Lm100 would, today, be equivalent to Lm90? This was not mentioned in the speech. Neither was CET.
We still got the usual U-turns in last Wednesday’s speech. After criticising the government, now Dr Sant agrees that the introduction of the euro should be on 1 January 2008. He also accepts the difficulties faced due to the surcharge and says that this should reflect the oil prices.
There was another U-turn, this time on the low-cost airlines issue. I think he forgot that till a few months ago, he scared the Air Malta employees because of the competition the national carrier would have from these low-cost airlines.
Dr Sant also said that he would change Malta in six months. Well, it’s true. We have not forgotten that when the Maltese people trusted him, he managed to introduce a record of taxes and also a record of debt.
Although Dr Sant introduced so many new taxes, the national debt increased to a record of Lm275 million in a stunning time period of 22 months.
His friends and colleagues admitted that the Labour government’s economic strategy failed. The Maltese people deserve to know the choices. Why cannot Alfred Sant give us concrete feasible strategies? As happened in the past, these plans do not exist.
What exists is a greed for power that does not stop from using any possible tactics to gain the main target. No matter what stands in front of it – children, students, pensioners or any other member of Maltese society.
We already tasted these measures. Have you forgotten the taxes on sewage, the 50c overcharge on medicines, the increase in water and electricity bills, without having to face the price increase of oil in the international markets this government is facing today.
It’s thanks to the Nationalist administration that we can say that we are competing in the big world. Statistics from various organisations, both European and worldwide, put us among the top countries.
The vision of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and the Nationalist Party in government is to see each and every person on the island living a better life. The Nationalist government improved the education, environment and health sectors and boosted our economy. The same economy that during the last term of the Labour Party in government was struggling for breath.
We want a guarantee that this country will have the brightest future possible not just for us but also for our children. The Nationalist Party is the only party that improved the standard of living of all Maltese and Gozitans. It is the party that includes everyone in its policy.
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David Casa is a Nationalist MEP