Usually, by now, days after the Budget Speech, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition would have battled the issue on countless talk shows and face-to-face debates.

This time, most probably due to Dr Gonzi being away in Lisbon for the EU’s informal council, there has not been any such opportunity, not even on Friday night’s Xarabank.

So the first time they met head to head after Budget Day was yesterday morning on RTK radio.

This being, to all intents and purposes, election year, also constituted the second face-to-face debate in an increasingly presidential election. The first one was on Bondiplus some weeks ago.

This time, one could say, though obviously opinions will vary, Dr Gonzi was not the outright loser he was on Bondiplus. He also was the one who interrupted the most, though that does not necessarily explain why he did better.

Dr Sant’s arguments will, no doubt, be used all the more extensively in his speech on the Budget tomorrow in Parliament.

The discussion was rather loosely controlled by RTK staff, which meant that, when the going got hot, they had to cut the debate short when the two let fly at each other, but not so quickly that the retorts could not be heard.

Dr Gonzi began by outlining the main Budget decisions. Now that the country had attained its objectives of joining the EU and the euro, the government could give some of the benefits reaped to the families. A couple with a Lm5,000 salary now pays no tax. The elderly are being encouraged to stay in the economy.

Dr Sant reiterated the Budget was “too little, too late”. It shows the government is in a state of panic. It is not true the economy has gotten any better: Dr Gonzi had said the same thing last year and people can say they do not feel they are better off.

All that the government has done was to give back a little of what it took in the past years.

This is an election Budget, an opportunist one. The present government was cruel with families – the surcharge, prices, and so on. There was nothing in the speech about controlling prices, nor much about education, nor about creating jobs or about fighting corruption and incompetence.

Asked what he would do about rising prices, Dr Sant said Labour would not impose price controls but create a regulatory agency to supervise prices within the framework of free competition.

Dr Sant here mentioned the rising prices of some goods – ravjul and pastizzi, oranges, WC Net which has increased from Lm1 to Lm1.29, biskuttelli, galletti, and so on. Some of the price rises have been due to rising prices abroad, but some have risen because of the euro.

Even the European Commissioner for Consumer Protection has said Malta is still backwards in this matter.

As for the surcharge, Dr Sant reiterated his government would cut it by half.

Slovenia, which introduced the euro last January, found that until March prices did not rise, but then had to reintroduce a price freeze in order to cope. This government, on the contrary, had come to an agreement with some importers not to introduce rises until March! And it was Dr Gonzi himself who said he could do nothing about rising prices.

He also pointed out that while NECC guidelines say that all pricing has to be dual from July to January, the government’s own Budget broke this rule because its financial estimates are only in euros and not in dual pricing.

Replying, Dr Gonzi said it was evident Dr Sant had not found anything substantial to say. He had not even replied to the question the RTK journalist put to him: How would he control prices, except by promising an agency.

When Dr Sant was last Prime Minister Malta had its highest inflation rate, at over four per cent. Why did Dr Sant not create the anti-inflation agency then?

At least the two parties are now in agreement not to reintroduce price freezes or price orders.

Instead, this government compensates families by giving them more money so that they can better their quality of living.

The government is being vigilant on price increases, especially those on medicines. After doing the necessary investigations it tells importers their prices are unreasonable, when compared to the same prices abroad, and either they put the price down or the government will import the medicine in question itself.

It was Dr Sant himself who, two years ago, had advised the government to devalue the Maltese lira. Had the government done so, prices would have increased by 10 per cent.

As to the “too little, too late” jibe, Dr Gonzi said that had he given more than the Lm21 million the Budget measures cost, he would have again increased the Budget deficit.

In his reply, Dr Sant said that although some prices had been pushed down, they were still higher than they were only a few months ago. The government had closed the stable doors after the horses had bolted.

As for the Children’s Allowance, 49,000 families were given this in 1997 but there are only 33,000 today – a full 16,000 less. And while Lm20 million was spent on Children’s Allowances in 1997, only Lm13 million was spent last year.

As to the devaluation of the Maltese lira, even John Dalli, writing last Sunday, had argued in favour of it.

Dr Sant then listed many areas for which the government had budgeted to spend so much last year but ended up spending less.

Dr Gonzi, by now interrupting almost ceaselessly, said that showed the government was cautious in its expenditure. A family on a Lm3,000 wage and three children used to receive Lm900 in Children’s Allowance but it will now get Lm1,400.

When Dr Gonzi then referred to Dr Sant as his friend who he appreciates a lot, Dr Sant referred to the ‘hamallagni’ at the latest PN general council. Dr Gonzi said: “That was wrong” but Dr Sant was quick to retort that nevertheless Dr Gonzi had acquiesced and clapped.

After a short break, Dr Gonzi said that had the government, over the years, taken on Dr Sant’s advice, it would have hit the wall in the same manner that Dr Sant’s administration did. This government had given out goodies not for electoral reasons but because now it could give people something.

By now both leaders were interrupting each other almost continually. Dr Gonzi said he and his party respect the wishes of the electorate, which is something the Labour Party could not boast about and the party, and Dr Sant as its leader, must some day apologise to the people for not respecting their wishes.

In reply, Dr Sant was heard referring to the mortal sin imposed on Labour in the 1960s.

Dr Sant was then asked by the RTK journalist why he did not accept the Lm1.50 weekly increase in wages when before the Budget he had said 50c was too little and the government must give Lm1.50.

He replied he had always said that at least Lm1.50 should be given. People are suffering and they expect relief especially from the surcharge.

Besides, a fair share of Malta’s workforce now works part-time and part-timers will not get the Lm1.50 increase.

Malta’s taxes had risen the most among the EU member States.

Replying, Dr Gonzi agreed that the surcharge hits families most, as he had admitted in the Budget Speech. But the government did not introduce the surcharge capriciously. On the contrary, the price of oil now is even higher than it was when the surcharge was introduced. It touched $90 a barrel last week and could even go as high as $100.

Besides, the government itself is paying almost half the surcharge and it is minimizing its impact on industries.

On Friday, on Xarabank, Labour secretary general Jason Micallef, asked how much would cutting half the surcharge cost the country, had replied anything between Lm16 million and Lm20 million.

How could he say that when no one knows how high the price of oil will be?

Besides, government preferred to spread the Lm21 million it decided to spend on the people. By financing just the surcharge cut, Dr Sant’s administration would be encouraging people to waste electricity. It was such policies that led Dr Sant’s administration to produce Malta’s highest deficit when in office.

Dr Sant replied the recode deficit occurred in 2003. He then claimed Dr Gonzi’s administration is immune to the plight of families. It found money for Dar Malta, for a port in Brindisi, for projects that went over budget, but then did not find money for families.

Even the IMF is now saying the economy will grow less next year and even less the year after that. This is a tired government…

Here the two leaders again engaged in calling each other names. You trick people, Dr Sant claimed, to which Dr Gonzi replied it had been Dr Sant who said he would not touch the students’ stipends but then did.

The final part of the debate was then taken up with both leaders hurriedly throwing their ammunition at each other, sometimes to the point when they could not be fully understood.

Dr Sant pointed out that the deficit this year should be down to Lm50 million. So how come public debt had increased by exactly Lm50 million?

It is unclear where the revenue government obtained for the sale of Oiltanking and Tug Malta went to.

And if next year the deficit will be brought down to Lm29 million, how come government debt is expected to rise by a further Lm50 million?

Nor are jobs being created. Most of the new jobs are part time. Malta has the lowest labour force participation rate in the EU.

Dr Sant then spoke about education and said his administration will build a second Junior College due to overcrowding at the present one.

Dr Gonzi retorted that Dr Sant speaking about the failings of the educational system was an insult to teachers. If Maltese students are being a success in the EU this is no thanks to Dr Sant for, had he had his way, Malta would still be out of the EU and the students would not be able to study abroad. And it was a Labour government that had closed down the Polytechnic (Here Dr Gonzi made a classic Freudian slip by referring to the polyclinic!).

Today’s workforce, Dr Gonzi added, is the product of the educational system of 20 years ago, where no skills development took place, or any training in IT.

It is good, as Dr Sant suggests, to increase the number of tourists coming to Malta to 1.6 million but they must be served by a properly trained workforce.

And, as regards tourism, up to a year ago Dr Sant was against allowing low cost airlines into Malta. The government too was cautious, for it did not want to hurt Air Malta, but a balance had been found and the number of incoming tourists is now sensibly higher.

It was left to Dr Sant to land the last blows.

He referred to what has been written by John Dalli, that he had come to an agreement with Skanska on the new hospital but then the Dr Gonzi administration accepted to pay them more.

The government had made a public U-turn on the Xaghra l-Hamra golf course and had said a nature park would be created there, but only a few thousand euros are dedicated to this in the Budget.

In closing, he mentioned two hard-case issues: a Sea Malta employee who had suffered an injury, which left him 95 per cent disabled. Even the insurance company wants to pay him, but the Sea Malta liquidator is refusing to fork out the money.

And a 94-year-old woman is living in a state of siege on the Sliema seafront because of building work above and around her.

To which Dr Gonzi replied, but somewhat rather feebly (too little, too late) that the government does not control the Sea Malta liquidator nor does it control the developer.