Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s government must not win the next general election, Partit Demokratiku Temporary Leader Marlene Farrugia told The Malta Independent in an interview.

“I say this with a heavy heart,” she said, while stressing the need for a new political honest force, and adding that the same people that took him to power now look back and question what they did.

Labour, she said, is going against its electoral programme in its most essential parts. “One might say that we are doing well economically, but this is due to a number of factors such as EU funds, which are the fruit of the PN’s work, and an economy which did well during the financial crisis”.

“In the short term, through constant development, there is money in peoples’ pockets.” However she asked whether studied projections have been made to ensure that what is being built today will give long-term benefits. “If you sold hospitals, or land for example like that given to the American University of Malta, which was sold for pennies compared to what it is actually worth, then you would have cash on hand. However in the long term you would not have the cash, nor the land,” she said.

“Government debt continued rising without any massive public projects occurring. The deficit reduced as GDP rose, but it rose for the aforementioned reasons, and it doesn’t mean it will keep rising at this rate. Interest rates are low due to the international situation, but on the other hand we know that the USA is considering increasing interest rates, and this won’t necessarily mean government will remain paying the same low interest”.

Full interview to be published shortly.