Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Sunday that he was “content” to still be at the helm of the Maltese government.

Speaking during an interview on the Labour Party’s ONE Radio, Dr Muscat said that he was looking forward to continue his work as prime minister with more energy than ever, adding that he was glad to do so.

His first focus, he said, was to deliver a Budget that followed in the footsteps of the previous ones delivered.

“We want people to see the sort of Budget that they have got used to. And to talk about what they got in this Budget and not what was taken from them,” he said.

There was very little time to work on the Budget and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna was already hard at it.

July and August would be heavily dedicated to finalising the next Budget, which he said would be concluded in September.

“Although October and November sound far off, they are close on the political calendar,” he said.

Dr Muscat also weighing on speculation that he had hoped to clinch a top post in the EU during a summit of European leaders last week.

“I won’t comment on who was and wasn’t mentioned [as potential nominees] during last week’s meeting as that is not right or ethical. What I can say is that these were productive meetings – complicated, very intensive, and in the end we came out with good names for the positions,” he said.

Dr Muscat said he had spoken on the phone with German Defence Minister Ursula Van Der Leyen, who is nominated to become the next European Commission president.

He said the Maltese government could work with Ms Der Leyen, and looked forward to doing so.

She had, during her ministerial work in Germany, been in touch with Malta on a number of occasions via her counterpart Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela.

Dr Muscat said Ms Der Leyen’s nomination, and that of former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to the helm of the European Central Bank, sent out a strong political message about gender parity in European politics.

Aside from the names being proposed, however, it was important to have a strong programme for the future of the European Union.

Air Malta and 'realistic' requests

Dr Muscat also weighed in on the situation facing Air Malta.

The airline and pilots’ union are currently locked in a court dispute over industrial action ALPA ordered last week, and which the airline filed an injunction to block.

Dr Muscat said the government would only entertain “realistic” demands.
It was the government’s duty, he said, not to consider requests which were out of this world.

He was referring to reports that pilots were after a €700,000 retirement package.

UN report: 'Poverty still exists'

Referring to a recent UN index that found Malta was doing well in the fight against poverty, Dr Muscat said more needed to be done.

“On this I want to start by saying that despite all we have done, today we still have poverty in this country,” he said.

Dr Muscat said his administration had inherited a situation where poverty was increasing, and previous administration that said poverty was just a perception.
“We do not see it that way, and we have worked hard to reduce poverty,” he said.

Dr Muscat said the government wanted to focus its efforts towards pensioners, single mothers, and families that were struggling to make ends meet.