Had Joseph Muscat had his way we would not have joined the European Union, neither would we have joined the eurozone. Had he had his way the Maltese lira would have been devalued by 10 per cent and we would still be "subsidising" the Malta Shipyards and any other "moribund" entities.
Dr Muscat has been militant in the Labour Party since he was a teenager. He has since then always toed the party line and he has never dared criticise it. In other words, Dr Muscat has advocated all Labour policies and sanctioned all its decisions, the good ones (?), the bad ones and the very very bad ones.
The international monetary crisis is being totally ignored by the Labour front. It is as though Dr Muscat and his not-so-merry men are really living in the Switzerland in the Mediterranean of their unrealised dreams. They have never acknowledged the fact that if we were not members of the European Union this country would have regressed badly and that had we not adopted the euro last January we would have foundered, like Iceland, in the turbulent waters surrounding us. Labour is not expected to pat the government on the back but the least it could do is acknowledge its assorted negativism: protesting against the upgrade of the Sant' Antnin recycling plant; its depressing stand vis-à-vis the shipyards' privatisation and pensions schemes; voting against the immigration pact and voting against the transfer of the Birżebbuġa new gas bottling plant to Bengħajsa.
It has also cast shadows and doubts over the Smart City project, the proposed wind farms, the national breast screening programme and Herceptin medication via its many verbose spokesmen. Even flanking the leaders over the "hearses" liberalisation affair during the "violent strike" and the straightjacket (cum a €50,000 fine) binding Labour's aspiring members of the European Parliament's free speech and free thinking were as regrettable and in extremely bad taste.
Had Labour had it its way our water and electricity bills would have trebled in 1996 when oil cost a measly $12 a barrel. There was no financial turmoil then, prices overseas were stable and there was absolutely no reason under the sun why Labour came up with such incredible price hikes. And yet, Dr Muscat, backing his party's moment of madness, fought Labour's cause, even in his writings, tooth and nail. Now that the scenario has changed completely, and last July oil soared over $150 a barrel (today standing at approximately $60 a barrel - five times as much as 1996 prices) Dr Muscat, has changed his tune. Strangely enough it was okay for his party to introduce exorbitant and unjustified tariffs under a Labour government, but it's not okay for this administration to charge realistic and justified tariffs which reflect what we actually consume. A classic case of two weights and two measures I hasten to add.
Dr Muscat has condemned Budget 2009 and has criticised the government's decision to raise utility bills but he has not come out with any serious alternatives or plausible solutions on how we are going to foot our energy consumption costs. All we have been told in a very airy fairy fashion is that if he had his way we would postpone paying our energy bill to a later stage, although he fails to add in a mega-heavier way! If we delay payments due, because pay up we must, we will have to foot the bill through our noses as everyone knows that the greater the deficit, the greater the national debt and the greater the bill. Procrastination is not only a thief of time!
In a nutshell: If Dr Muscat had his way we would be turning the clock back and raising the national deficit to the levels previously inherited from the defunct Labour government.
I totally disagree with this line of thought. I want to pay today for what I consume myself today. I do not want to put off the inevitable and be lumped with other consumers' wastage and mega-heavy interest rates. Plus, I want my "precious" tax invested in national growth and not in a bottomless pit of "government" (to read: taxpayers') subsidies!