Protesters ignoring financial aid - PM

Those who protested against the utility tariffs yesterday were ignoring the €17 million the government had allocated to help 97 per cent of families cope with the rising cost of living, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

Speaking at a PN activity in Paola, Dr Gonzi said successive Nationalist governments since 1987 had considered work and the generation of wealth as a priority.

Since the PN regained power in 1998, there had been an increase of 21,000 jobs in the private sector. And since Malta joined the EU in 2004, the number of full-time jobs had risen by 13,700 and this while baby-boomers were retiring and after 1,300 dockyard workers had lost their jobs.

Dr Gonzi, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech and Nationalist backbencher Robert Arrigo criticised the Valletta protest against the tariffs, saying it was not the way to find solutions or attract new investment.

"While Labour is out protesting, we're working to get more work," Dr Gonzi said. "Our aim is to generate work and, while taking care of the small, we encourage the strong to invest more and provide work."

Mr Fenech called the General Workers' Union a "poodle" of the Labour Party. The union had described the Budget for 2010 a moderate one but, then, come Christmastime, it changed its tune and now it was taking to the streets.

He insisted it wasn't subsidies that helped families face up to the increases in the cost of living but stable jobs.

Mr Fenech compared Labour leader Joseph Muscat to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, whose country is facing a serious financial crisis, and who, as Leader of the Opposition, took to the streets in protest, causing the government of the day to call an early election because of the tough decisions ahead. "Where are the people who protested last year now? In the streets (again), because Papandreou deceived them," Mr Fenech said.

Mr Arrigo said that, while there was internal debate and criticism within the government's parliamentary group, there was no trouble at all.