Bills the Opposition wants to enact into law are only intended to instil fear and paralyse the economy and include one that will recognise Malta as a Mafia state, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday.
Speaking to supporters at the party’s Nadur club in Gozo, Abela said that although the Opposition was selling the bills as “against corruption” this was not the case.
The Opposition proposed a new draft law earlier this month that incorporates all the major recommendations made by the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry.
“I have read the bills and I will be the first to debate on Thursday. The Opposition did not manage to paralyse the economy during a pandemic and it will not manage now,” he said to applause.
Another bill, Abela said, suggested prison for politicians who communicated with businessmen via Whatsapp.
Investment takes place of austerity
Abela went through incentives introduced for businesses to help them cope with the pandemic saying it removed austerity from the government’s economic manual and replaced it with investment, creating a new vision for the country.
And the government will continue to help the most affected businesses, even through the wage supplement, for as long as necessary. “We will remain with you. I will continue to defend you from those who are trying to put fear in you. We will resist all fearful ideas and suggestions.
Spring, Abela said, will be good and summer will bring about a lot of work in tourism and other sectors.
Living with COVID-19
The world had now learned much better how to live with a pandemic. The current discussion in most countries is whether COVID-19 should continue to be treated as a pandemic or as an endemic, like the cold and flu, something the world has to live with. “I look forward to that debate also starting in Malta,” he said.
Abela said that since a large number of people had now received their vaccines, the government was in a position to start removing more restrictions from the first week of February.
Hydrogen pipeline project to go ahead
He criticised the Opposition leader for opposing the government’s planned hydrogen pipeline saying this was national project from which all Malta and the Maltese would benefit. It would diversify the electricity supply, provide cleaner energy and ensure that prices are more stable. It would also mean the removal of the current LNG storage ship currently berthed in Malta.
“This project is in everyone’s interest and we will go ahead with it,” Abela said.
Institutions much work solely for administration of justice
Without mentioning the search on former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s home, Abela referred to it reiterating his statement that institutions have to continue to work serenely but solely for the administration of justice.
Malta, he said, is a vibrant democracy in which everyone is accountable for his or her actions. So institutions have to serve their duties and nothing else. “No authority can be terrorised to be conditioned in its decisions.”
Abela said there were those who abused of parliamentary privilege and exerted pressure on the authorities for matters to go their way. “This is the reality of an opposition which says, when it suits it, that it believes in the institutions,” he insisted.
Attacks on the government, Abela said, will continue and become stronger as the election gets closer but the government will not allow the opposition to divide the country as it had divided its own party.