The Nationalist Party is proposing that taxes and social security contributions owed by businesses during the pandemic be repaid over an eight-year period to address cash-flow problems.
Opposition Leader Bernard Grech promised the measure would be introduced should the PN be elected into government when he spoke at a political activity in Safi.
“The PN understands the difficulties and challenges that businesses are facing right now and we want to send a clear message that with us, you know where you stand,” Grech said.
“When you help businesses, you are also helping workers, helping the economy and helping the wheel turn for the entire population.”
Grech also promised that a PN government would allow members of the disciplined forces who reach their retirement after 25 years of service to continue to work in the corps while keeping a salary as well as their hard-earned pensions.
“We salute the disciplined forces for the sacrifices you make and the duty you show not only to your uniform but the whole population,” Grech said.
“We think you deserve better because your service is indispensable for our country. I promise that a government led by me will invest more in you and treat your profession with the respect it deserves.”
‘Robert Abela has a lot to answer for’
Reacting to Times of Malta’s story about Prime Minister Robert Abela being involved in a property deal with alleged criminals, currently in court on kidnapping charges, Grech said that Abela had an obligation to explain these transactions.
“Every week you open the papers and find a new scandal,” he said.
“Today we discovered that our Prime Minister is in the middle of shocking reports that cast him as well as the rest of the country in a bad light.”
“Robert Abela has a lot to answer for, he has an obligation to explain these transactions, how he advised on these matters, and what they were intended for. These are serious allegations that essentially boil down to our Prime Minister being complicit in tax evasion and criminality.”
Grech thanked investigative journalists for their work and said that it was no wonder that Labour Party MPs had shot down reform presented by the PN in parliament on tav evasion and links to organised crime.
“They told us they would have to vote against the bill ‘against their wishes’ but now it is clear that there were personal interests and specifically the interests of Robert Abela behind this decision.”
In a speech urging public unity, Grech urged voters to put their differences aside and focus on the ties that bind citizens together in the upcoming general election, whenever it may be.
“We have another chance for people to put their personal interests and political loyalties aside and put the interests of our country first,” he said.
“By choosing the PN, you choose a party that at its core wants to give our country the honor it deserves and makes you the focus of its plans.”