Parliament to debate €27 million loan to Greece next week - PM

The cabinet will on Monday be discussing a law to be moved in Parliament next week authorising the Maltese government to lend Greece €27 million at commercial rates, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said.

The law would be based on the conclusions of an urgent meeting for EU finance ministers tomorrow during which a financial package for Greece is expected to be agreed upon.

Closing a party conference held on the occasion of Worker’s Day, Dr Gonzi said the law will be debated in Parliament with urgency for the future and stability of Greece, on which Europe, including Malta depended.

Greece, Dr Gonzi said, has announced a number of measures it will be taking to get out of its situation, including increasing value added tax by three per cent, a freeze on government wages for three years, a five per cent decrease in bonuses, the selling of government assets and a number of privatisations.

Dr Gonzi said that competitiveness had to be the fundamental element which led Malta to its aims, the primary of which remained to reduce the deficit to three per cent and get to a balanced budget.

He said that investment in energy and technological infrastructure had to be carried out for the sake of the country and the government could not be afraid of controversy. For to be so would be betraying the country’s interests, he said.