Government MP Marlene Farrugia has taken to Facebook to say that PN leader Simon Busuttil “touched upon many points that are irking people”, making reference to his speech during yesterday’s mass meeting held in front of the parliament building.

While at it, Dr Farrugia took time to hit out at her very own party’s reaction to Dr Busuttil’s speech, stating that the “PL communications reaction on the other hand is too dismissive, almost bordering on the arrogant, stereotyped, quite out of touch with people’s take on reality”.

‘Corrupt leeches that surrounded Gonzi now shifted their claws to the present government’

She wrote: “We are aware that the economy is doing well not least because during the financial crisis and the rocketing of oil prices saga, Gonzi introduced austerity in the form of higher utility tariffs which safeguarded the country's finances then, but cost him his premiership, aided of course by the corrupt leeches that surrounded him, many of which have now shifted their claws to the present government.

“So the PL kept the direction as it said it would. No new economic sectors have materialised so far but the ones that were started under PN like aviation, financial, iGaming are doing well.

“Unemployment was tackled by Public Sector recruitment which was needed in some areas (e.g. nursing) but which was avoided by the PN when they governed because debt to GDP ratio was worrying and not much economic expansion could be expected back then when most European countries were experiencing economic contractions, deflation and record unemployment levels, a scenario which has now changed with Spain, Ireland and Portugal now growing briskly and UK with its lowest unemployment level in 30 years for instance.

“Our private sector recruitment is improving it seems but is it enough to sustain the debt level we have reached when interest rates start increasing and GDP growth reaches a plateau...?

“Utility tariffs have been cut down by 25%, true, but the price of oil is close to half what it was in Gonzi days, even if you take the euro/dollar fluctuations into consideration,” she said.

Enemalta ‘saved’ is the impression given by PL communications team

She continued: “Enemalta was 'saved' is the impression given by PL communications, disregarding the fact that the Maltese public knows that a third of Enemalta was sold, and that many of Enemalta's workers were offloaded from the company onto the public sector payroll, not kept under the now privatised Enemalta as we had been led to believe.

“The conversion of the now Chinese BWSC plant from heavy fuel oil to gas has not taken place as promised. We are going to be dumped with an LNG tanker in Marsaxlokk, and have been forced as a nation to guarantee a loan of 360,000,000 euros to a private consortium to build us a power station when we had just been told that we have sold a third of our only energy company on the islands for 320 million euros, to reduce the country's finances' exposure to Enemalta debt!

“With the current fuel prices, which have not been reflected in what families and businesses are paying, and the commissioning into action of the cable interconnector between Malta and Sicily, there are many among us who question the government's achievements in this sector,” she said.

Dr Farrugia advised the PL communications that it should understand that highlighting flaws in governance is not being negative, but it is being positive in ensuring that any optimism we are experiencing is not just a bubble which will burst in our face.

"With the current population's improving levels of awareness and analysis opportunities PL communications would do better to serve their country and give the people facts as they are and not as they wish them to be in order to look good...

"People want trasparency in our dealings and contracts, want services that reflect what they are paying in taxes, want a safe and healthy environment, responsibility in upholding national security, utility and fuel tariffs that reflect what they are actually consuming, and above all they want to feel secure that our institurions are allowed to function without corruption and political interference, to maintain the RULE of LAW and a functioning democracy."