NEWS | Wednesday, 27 February 2008

Labour’s no to budget surplus a “tremor” - Gonzi

Julia Farrugia

‘More work, and better work’ was Lawrence Gonzi’s maxim yesterday during the fourth press conference of the electoral campaign held at Bulebel industrial estate.
Gonzi lined up a list of achievements, stating that “if there is one thing that people should put their minds at rest about, it is employment under a PN government.”
Highlighting the fact that in the past four years his government created more than 20,000 new jobs, Lawrence Gonzi scoffed at the Labour Party’s employment policies describing Sant’s recent statements as a “comedy of errors.”
The Prime Minister criticised Alfred Sant’s lack of commitment to aim for a budget surplus by 2010 as the PN is promising. This would create a “tremor” in the country’s stability.
Gonzi invited voters to compare the two main parties’ proposals. “We want to strengthen the financial services and increase the number of pharmaceutical factories and call centres, whilst the Labour Party is proposing to set up a salt factory, another one to produce nails and another factory to produce leather shoes.”
Reiterating the message of the latest negative billboard campaign unleashed by his party, Gonzi insisted that under a Sant Government, unemployment will shoot up to 15,000 after five years.
Gonzi said that our economy needed to create 5,000 new jobs every year to keep unemployment down. “Alfred Sant is promising to generate 2,000 jobs a year. This will increase unemployment by 3,000 a year,” Gonzi said.
Gonzi also ruled out the possibility of overturning his decision about Public Holidays, whereby holidays which fall on a weekend are no longer added to annual leave. He insisted that he will rely on the advice given to him by experts from the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Industries on the matter.
The Nationalist leader yesterday also revealed that the European Commission approved a financial aid package totalling €700,000 (Lm300, 510) to train Maltese workers who recently lost their job.
The PN leader said: “The proposal of the European Commission has now reached the Council of Ministers’ and the European Parliament’s stage and I hope that as soon as possible Malta would be able to start using these funds.”
The whole financial package amounts to €1,362,207. Lawrence Gonzi said that 675 redundant workers from VF and Bortex will eventually benefit from these funds, and they will be getting professional training enabling them to find alternative jobs in different sectors.