Air Malta’s future hangs in the balance because the EU Commission is not believing Robert Abela’s government like it did a Nationalist one back in 2012, PN leader Bernard Grech believes.
Speaking on party-owned NET FM, Grech argued that the national airline would have been safe had the PN been the party calling the shots, rather than Labour.
“We had a plan, agreed upon with the EU Commission,” Grech said of Air Malta’s 2012 restructuring and state aid plan. “Because at the time we had a government that was respected and believed by the Commission,” Grech added.
Now, Grech said, Brussels was not believing the prime minister or his Finance minister, Clyde Caruana.
Times of Malta reported last week that the European Commission is likely to refuse a government request to pump up to €300 million into the struggling Air Malta, effectively forcing the airline to shut down.
EU regulations preclude companies from receiving state aid more than once within a 10-year period. Air Malta received a €52 million state aid injection back in 2012 but was in financial trouble again by 2018 and requested state aid permission in 2021.
EU state aid rules also require companies that get cash injections to become financially feasible within 10 years – something Air Malta has failed to do.
Speaking on Saturday, PN leader Grech expressed concern about the company’s future and said it was unacceptable that people – including Air Malta workers – were being left in the dark.
The only information being divulged about the airline’s future was coming from newspapers, he said.
If Air Malta were to shut down, then the country would be forced to rely on foreign-owned airlines to connect it to the rest of the world, he warned.
Nurses’ pay dispute
The PN leader also spoke about ongoing negotiations between the government and the MUMN to secure a new sectoral deal for nurses and midwives.
MUMN members voted overwhelmingly to reject a government offer earlier this week, with both sides seemingly unable to find middle ground.
The government says its proposal would increase salaries by around €6,000 a year by the end of the deal; the union says that figure would only be met if nurses worked up to 56 hours a week.
Nurses who spoke to Times of Malta said they feel burnt out by long working hours and inadequate conditions.
Grech said the government was treating nurses and midwives as second-class workers, having first procrastinated for months only to now offer them salary increases only if they work longer hours.
“ Workers are united in their discontent at what the government is saying,” Grech said. “And the government responds by trying to ridicule them.”