[VIDEO] Gonzi put €500 weekly rise before values

Labour leader Joseph Muscat said that a politician’s values do not have anything to do with the church, meaning that a politician’s merits should not be measured according to his religious beliefs. This statement was made in reply to those PN conservatives who were using scaremongering tactics when warning the electorate to consider a politician’s values before voting.

During a political activity held in Imqabba on Sunday morning, Muscat proceeded to give examples of what a politician’s values should not mean. “A politician’s values should not mean that the politician makes it his right to interfere in people’s personal lives and presume to dictate whether two same-sex adults have a right to love each other, or even to decide who is a family and who is not. A politician with strong values, insisted Muscat, was above all a politician who did not take a 500 Euro weekly raise for himself behind the people’s backs.

Regarding the economy, Muscat explained why Finance Minister Tonio Fenech was incompetent at his job, and how, had the Minister been employed in a private practice, he would have been sacked a long time ago. In the same breath Fenech had admitted that the government’s deficit goals would not be reached, but at the same time said that they would. It was enough to consider that GonziPN had accumulated more debt than all the previous governments put together since Independence.

Muscat referred to various tactics which the Finance Minister was using in a futile and half-hearted attempt to reach the goals he had set. Recently, the government had added the 40 million euros received from the seven year public lotto concession to this year’s financial books. This irresponsible action meant that future goverments will not get one cent from public lotto.

Now Tonio Fenech was personally pushing for a 40 to 50 million loan to be issued on Enemalta. This corporation was already shouldering 600 million euro in debts, and a further loan would endanger the energy sector and Enemalta’s workers, as well as place more debt on energy consumers. However this loan would only be visible on Enemalta’s financial books, while the government would be able to add them to its own revenue.  

Muscat warned that a Labour government will be holding all those involved in such an outrageous decision responsible. A Labour government would also have an altogether different set of priorities, in which its success would be measured against the success of the middle class. Those with financial means would be supported to invest in project that would help those without, and together they can both move forward. A Labour government wanted a future of unity, in which everyone succeeded together.