Prime Minister Robert Abela avoided naming a single proposal from the Nationalist Party that he supported or would consider implementing if Labour is re-elected, instead opting to attack the PN's credibility and costings.
Asked by The Malta Independent whether there was any proposal promised by the Nationalist Party he liked and would endorse, Abela did not identify a single PN measure.
Instead, the Prime Minister shifted focus to Labour's own electoral proposals and contrasted what he described as Labour's "credibility" and "competence" with what he called the PN's "incompetence."
Abela pointed to Labour's proposed €1,000 annual non-taxable "super bonus" for 200,000 workers, saying the measure had been fully costed at €200 million per year and structured in a way that excluded foreign workers from benefiting.
He then accused the Nationalist Party of copying Labour proposals and attempting to outbid them politically.
Abela said that the PN's proposal to widen income tax bands was financially inconsistent.
Echoing Finance Minister Clyde Caruana's criticism of the proposal, Abela argued that the PN claimed 300,000 workers would benefit and that each worker would receive at least €1,200 annually, while simultaneously estimating the measure would cost between €110 million and €130 million a year.
The Prime Minister said the numbers did not add up, claiming that multiplying 300,000 workers by €1,200 would amount to €360 million annually, meaning the PN had underestimated the cost of the proposal by at least €250 million.
Abela said such mistakes raised wider questions about the credibility of the PN's broader electoral programme.
He also defended Labour's economic management over the past six and a half years, saying that his government had steered the country through major crises without making financial errors of that magnitude.
Despite specifically asking whether there were any Nationalist Party proposals he admired or would adopt, the Prime Minister did not name or endorse a single PN proposal in his reply.