Prime Minister Joseph Muscat made a brief reference to the largest national protest held since Labour was elected to office which saw thousands of people protest the government’s plans to build a private university on 90,000 sq metres of virgin land at Zonqor Point.  “The government will take heed of other people’s opinions but will not shy away from taking decisions,” he said.

In a telephone interview on One radio this morning, he said: “I believe there are common sense solutions which this government is working on.”

We turned the tables as pledged, PM says on Malta’s excessive deficit procedure exit

Dr Muscat said that this government managed to turn the tables as had been pledged which led to the European Council decide that the excessive deficit procedure which risked being imposed on Malta is lifted.

“ A Labour government changed the face of the economy and managed to exit the excessive deficit procedure,” Dr Muscat highlighted.

Without making a direct reference to the previous administration, Dr Muscat stated that the “others” had brought about such a situation but in these two years since Labour was elected to office “we managed to convince the EU that Malta was on the right track in terms of the economy".

Explaining further, he said that when this government was elected, both him and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna had gone to Brussels to try convince the EC to give Malta a chance to come in line.

He said that the EC had said that the “ones before you had said the same thing but never did anything about the situation”.

Dr Muscat continued: “We were faced with two options: either the EC creates a budget for Malta which would have posed a risk whereby we would have had to suffer spending cuts in certain sectors such as health, education and pensions, or to change things in a matter of two years and avoid such a situaiton.

“We had convinced the EC to give us some time – two years – and we pledged we would come in line, and we did,” he continued.

“We got to where we are today not by 'hurting' people but by reducing the energy tariffs, reducing the rate of the income tax twice, reducing the tax imposed on first-time property buyers and introduced free childcare.

“As a result, our economy is growing four times faster than any other country in the EU,” Dr Muscat pointed out.

Dr Muscat admitted that the government needed to improve its performance in certain sectors but when it came to the economy, this government changed things to the better.

“Hadn’t we managed to reach our goals, we would have a different scenario today and we would be telling a different story to the people, that certain benefits like stipends would have to witness cuts,” Dr Muscat explained.

Greece situation

Turning to the financial situation in Greece, Dr Muscat said that like Germany, Malta is highly exposed to Greece’s financial problems.

He said that he would be attending a Brussels meeting tomorrow to make sure Malta gets a fair deal and Greece remains in the eurozone. Greece owes Malta circa €80 million.

“In Greece, people went to the banks and withdrew all their money in the light of the situation. The EU has assisted Greece so that its banks will open on Monday but if the EU does not continue to assist Greece financially, there’s a danger that banks in Greece won’t open the next day," he pointed out.

Pension reform

On Malta’s pension reform, Dr Muscat said the fact that the retirement age won’t be increased is a positive aspect, apart from the fact that at the same time, stamp duty won’t be increased either while pensioners will witness an increase in their pension money.

He welcomed the proposal made by the Pension Group, that is, if one were to remain active and work an extra two or three years over and above his or her retirement age, this will lead to a boost in their retirement income.

PN reacts

Reacting to Dr Muscat’s comments on yesterday’s protest, the PN said in a statement that in the wake of the biggest national environmental protest ever held, the Prime Minister chose to go ahead with the ‘secret’ agreement which exists between Jordan's investors and the government, instead of listening to the people.

The more time passes, the PN said, the more it shows that Dr Muscat is hard-headed.

“The only common sense which exists is that no part of Zonqor is touched,” the PN continued.