From time to time, the governor of the Central Bank, as is his duty, issues a statement and expresses an opinion on the finances of the country and other issues that he deems fit.

This is the case with the incumbent who happened to be an ex Minister as well – Prof. Josef Bonnici. I must say that the governor of the Central Bank is no Tom, Dick and Harry and as such I expect that his advice at least is listened to carefully by all, in particular by the government. Of course, every decision has its political consequences and I understand that the government of the day, and in particular GonziPN, gives more weight to partisan politics and the interests of the PN rather than those of the country.

In fact, if one had to analyse the decisions taken during the legislature by the PN in government one will soon come to the conclusion that what determines certain decisions are elections. In fact, it seems that during the first four and a half years of the legislature there are a lot of problems while in the run up to the elections there are only solutions, and everything has become possible, even if not put into practice. This is the case now and the incumbent Prime Minister is seen smiling and ‘giving solutions’ to problems that have been with us for years and years. Also the GonziPN clan are doing their utmost to accommodate disgruntled PN voters to try and bring them back into the fold and once again have their vote, and if elected do the same as in previous legislatures.

People are being taken for a ride and I am confident that this time round voters will think twice. This does not mean that the Labour Party will win votes easily and the election for sure is going to be a very tough one. The Labour Party is at a disadvantage, first because we lost the last general election and secondly because the GonziPN clique is going to use to the maximum the power of incumbency more than the last elections.

So there is a lot of hard work to be done by the Labour Party but we should do our utmost since the country now needs a Labour government. Of course the usual puppets will go back to stories that happened 30 years ago when I was just ten years of age. Also, these same PN acolytes will keep on singing the same old song that we do not have policies. But I ask what the PN policies are since they are in government? They mention targets which are nothing but those set by the European Union. These of course are Labour’s targets too. But how are we going to reach these targets? It is obvious that since the PN ran out of ideas – and this happened on the day when Malta joined the EU in 2004 – they do not have a clue of what to do.

It is up to us members of the Labour Party to explain our road map to achieve these European targets. I am pretty sure that we will do so when the time comes and it will be the Labour Party that decides when this will be and not someone else. Recently we made a number of proposals on a number of issues, which were subsequently shot down immediately by the PN, some of which, the PN assured, were already being implemented. But there were other proposals that were taken up by the PN in government. So that is why they want us to say what we are proposing, for the simple reason that they are in need of ideas.

But the country does not only need new and fresh ideas but also a new way of doing things, and also real commitment and accountability. Those who are governing us today cannot guarantee us this. Change, it seems, is happening in Europe and I sincerely hope for this country and its people that change will happen here too. By change, I do not mean to do away with what the current administration did but rather to keep the positives and do away with the negatives. Most of the positives that this country has are due to its people and workers, including the business community, which were achieved mostly during the most difficult times.

Now, even the governor is giving his warning about the financial situation of the country. GonziPN is doing its utmost to make us believe that the financial situation, including the debt and deficit, are under control. The government is not managing to control the cost of living either, even more so since the government is contributing in no small way to it. The governor also states that economic growth should be the key and we need to have a higher level of growth, which is not the case.

And that is why all the EU member states should focus on growth – to create more and better jobs and as such generate wealth and hopefully this will be distributed in a just manner.

Carmelo Abela is Labour Main Spokesperson for Social Policy

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