PN did not keep promises - MLP

The Labour parliamentary group in a statement yesterday said the President's address at the opening of parliament offered no new opportunities for the Maltese people.

The fine words expressed in the address did not hide the fact that the Nationalist government had failed and did not keep the promises it made five years ago. The address spoke of five main sectors - education, the environment, the social sector, the economy and public administration - but it made no reference to what the PN had promised for each of them in 1998 and not implemented.

In education, for example, more than half the pupils finishing primary school either did not sit for the Junior Lyceum exam, or they failed. Half of the candidates for the Matsec exams failed.

In the environment, the government had reduced spending on waste management, sewage treatment, the control of pollution and the protection of flora and fauna to the extent that the quality of health had deteriorated.

In the social sector, the tax burden had gone up steeply and 60,000 people risked poverty according to the National Statistics Office.

In the economic sector, there were now 11,000 seeking work, of whom 60 per cent were under 34 years old. Tourism and manufacturing industry had major problems. In public administration, the government lacked vision on how to make this area more efficient and accountable.

Among other matters, the government had promised to implement the Cottonera and the cruise liner terminal projects and the Family Court, on which the Labour government had started working in 1996.

The government had not said how it would address the problems involving the welfare state and the deficit.

The Labour parliamentary group also announced that Joe Mizzi had been reappointed as its Whip. Joe Abela is assistant Whip and Joseph Cuschieri is assistant Whip and treasurer.