While presenting the party’s European Parliament candidates, Opposition Leader, Joseph Muscat yesterday told the government that the European Union too did not believe its previsions for the coming years.

“The European Union is telling the government what the Labour Party and the Maltese people have been saying all along: We do not believe you,” Dr Muscat said at a party activity entitled “Direction Success: Believe, Work, Succeed”, held at City Theatre in Valletta.

PL’s European Parliament Election candidates will be Claudette Abela Baldacchino, John Attard-Montalto, Glenn Bedingfield, Steve Borg, Maria Camilleri, Joseph Cuschieri, Sharon Ellul Bonici, Louis Grech, Kirill Micallef Stafrace, Marlene Mizzi, Edward Scicluna and Christian Zammit.

Dr Muscat explained that PL was putting forward the best team for the European Parliament and further described them as a team of persons whom the public may trust to acquire the best from the EU and who will keep back negative effects. The team was “competent”, “willing” and “had the necessary experience,” Dr Muscat said.

The candidates were presented after PL’s national executive approved the candidates last Monday.

PL would be insisting both at a local level and at the European Parliament that patients awaiting an operation should be given a definite date until when the operation is expected to be performed. The patient would then be entitled to free medical care in private hospitals, even abroad if the mentioned period expires.

“This costs money but waiting costs lives,” Dr Muscat said.

The new hospital which cost e600 million is facing old problems and is being run by part-time staff, Dr Muscat said. Minister John Dalli accused Finance Minister Tonio Fenech for not giving the necessary funds and previous Minister for letting waiting lists grow, but the Prime Minister had no one to blame, he said.

With reference to water and electricity tariffs, Dr Muscat said that the people were being made to pay for the government’s waste of money. He explained that this was the main reason why Dr Gonzi's government sent bills with an equivalent of 185 per cent surcharge when this should have been at 35 per cent.

This too was to be fought in the European Parliament together with the issue of VAT on vehicle registration. Dr Muscat explained that a positive EU directive was turned into one which created uncertainty. Consumers were unjustly being made to pay VAT on car registration along the past four years thus; this should be given back to the people.

A month ago, Dr Muscat said, the government projected an economic growth of 2.2 per cent for this year and a 2.5 per cent growth for 2010. However, the European Commission projections which were published last week showed a 0.7 per cent growth in 2009 and a 1.3 per cent growth for 2010.

“This is practically half what Dr Gonzi said indicating that his figures are not credible,” Dr Muscat pointed out.

Furthermore, the European Commission’s previsions on Public Finances were more significant, Dr Muscat said, as this was projecting a 2.6 per cent deficit for 2009 which was to go down by 0.1 per cent in 2010. The structural deficit was also expected to grow from 2.6 per cent to 2.9 per cent for this year, Dr Muscat said. In the meantime, the government’s aims were that of 1.5 per cent deficit over the gross domestic product in 2009 and 0.3 per cent deficit for 2010.

The EU was also saying that government’s debts were to increase to 64.2 per cent by next year while the government had said that this was to decrease to 59.8 per cent over the GDP.

Dr Muscat called for the introduction of a Consumer Protection Agency instead of the National Euro Changeover Committee because of an exaggerated increase in the cost of living. The latest Eurostat figures for December 2008 were showing that Malta was the only country whose inflation increased. Meanwhile, inflation in other countries including Slovenia and Cyprus decreased, Dr Muscat said. Thus, while the EU did not believe the Maltese government, the Maltese people were facing a record cost of living when compared with the rest of EU citizens.

The consumer must be protected and we must prove ourselves to be European and not simply say that we are EU members, Dr Muscat said.

Speaking on the proposed recycling plants at Ghallis and another one in Gozo, Dr Muscat said that the government simply took a decision on where these should be without any consultation. He said that the plant in Gozo was between Xewkija and Sannat, the only two Gozitan localities where PL won a majority.

In such a case, a voting assessment was carried out rather than an impact assessment, Dr Muscat said.

Once we believe and work, we will succeed and everyone will enjoy this success, Dr Muscat said in conclusion.

In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs criticised the Opposition and PL leader Joseph Muscat “who seem to be at a loss in relation to the various concrete proposals being proposed in the field of waste management by government”.

The Ministry said that the government is committed in seeking widespread consensus on the matter and thus urged the Opposition to show responsibility and bring forward its own proposals.