Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil said this evening that he could not be expected to honour the power purchase agreement with Electrogas once the government had not even had the decency to publish the document.

Dr Busuttil was replying to a question by The Malta Independent at the end of a press conference held after his reply to the budget speech. Earlier, Dr Busuttil pledged that a PN government would buy energy from wherever it was the cheapest. Asked if legally binding contracts could  hinder him from doing so, Dr Busuttil said he could not be expected to honour a contract signed in secret by the current administration. “While the country might have obligations towards Electrogas, do not forget that I also have a duty towards the Maltese people. If energy from the interconnector would be the cheapest option then that is where we would buy our energy from.”

Asked if the country was doing better or worse after two and a half years of a Labour government, Dr Busuttil said the fact that salaries were increasing at a slower rate showed that the situation was no better, if not worse than before. The country had not made any real progress under this government. Malta also had the highest rise in cost of living from among the EU member states.

Dr Busuttil said the PN was not waiting until the election to come up with its proposals because it was ready to share its ideas with others, in the interest of the country. The opposition was being proactive and turning into an alternative government.

Replying to questions about PN MP Claudio Grech, Dr Busuttil said the “big scandal” was that Mr Grech had forgotten about one meeting he had with a person some nine years ago. He noted that George Farrugia was not even in the news when the supposed meeting took place.

Dr Busuttil reiterated that the budget gave a lot to the few but a little to the many. For the PN, the two main focus areas are sustainable growth and dignity for all. These two topics were the yardstick by which the PN measured the budget.

Growth was not sustainable as it needed to be. In part, economic growth was a result of government expenditure, including millions spent on an increased public salary payroll and consultancies.

The unemployment rate – which the government claims is among the lowest in the EU – was being lowered in an artificial way because jobs should be created by the private sector, not the government. The government was also manipulating the unemployment register, Dr Busuttil reiterated. The government also lacked the vision to create new economic sectors – what would happen once the EU funds were used up? The government, he insisted, had no idea how to solve the traffic problem, which was becoming a burden on both the economy and people’s pockets.

Once again Dr Busuttil criticised the government plan to replace the eco-contribution with a higher excise tax, saying that this would affect consumer prices. The budged, he insisted, did not feature the middle class, the self-employed and shop owners. Education and health were also mostly left out of the budget.

The PN had a vision on the economy and would show this when it published a document it is currently working on in the coming weeks. The PN was also working on proposals that would offer short and long-term solutions to the traffic problem.  

 Pictures: Mike Camilleri, Video: Chanelle Demicoli