The Nationalist Party on Wednesday said that government has nothing to show for its exaggerated and wasteful spending which led to the country being warned over excessive deficit.

In a statement, the PN reacted to news earlier today that the European Commission issued a formal warning to Malta and seven other nations over their excessive budget deficits, and called on Malta to gradually eliminate energy subsidies and take measures to ease traffic congestion and increase renewable energy.

The Commission said it intends to propose to the Council to open excessive deficit procedures for these Member States in July 2024, and urged Malta to “wind down the emergency energy support measures by the 2024/2025 winter.”

The PN said government must cut spending that is going towards corruption and its friends, which have led to the process of placing Malta under the Excessive Deficit Procedure.

“Government repeatedly ignored warnings from the Nationalist Party and even from the constituted bodies to stop handing out large sums of money to the friends of friends, corruption which Maltese and Gozitan people are paying the price for.

“This has led to the European Commission announcing today that it will begin proceedings to place Malta under the Excessive Deficit Procedure,” the PN said.

It appealed for government to stop squandering the people's money recklessly and to ensure that its expenditure is sustainable.

“The debt, which exceeds €10 billion, with almost €600,000 in interest being paid by the people daily due to the government's debt, is alarming and unsustainable,” the PN said, adding that government has nothing to show for this amount of spending.

“In four years, Prime Minister Robert Abela has created more debt than the Nationalist and Labour governments combined since 1964,” the PN said, calling on government to immediately divulge how these procedures will impact people's lives and how it will address this problem it has brought upon the country.

“This problem was created by the Labour Government with its irresponsibility, and it must solve it by reducing waste and corruption and must not attempt to cut any assistance to the people or by burdening them further,” it said, adding that this problem was created by Abela’s government, and Finance Minister Clyde Caruana.