Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/315336
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 21 MAY 2014 3 JURGEN BALZAN PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat is detached from reality and the people's needs, PN leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday, adding that government only cared for the few. Addressing a party activity in Xaghra, Gozo yesterday evening, Busuttil said upon being elected as party leader just over a year ago, he had expressed his determination "to see the PN become once again the people's party". Being close to the people had helped him understand the chal- lenges and pains persons faced in their daily lives, Busuttil said, add- ing that over the past year he met persons who suffered vindictive transfers, unemployment, a slow- down in retail sales and "These are the realities we are coming across on a daily basis and the Labour government is doing nothing at all about it." He added that "instead of ad- dressing these bread and butter is- sues, the prime minister wasted his time claiming he's the underdog, hugging a criminal and baptising him as a soldier of steel and trying to turn these elections into a per- sonal contest." The PN leader stressed that the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was living in a bubble because he was detached from the daily realities and the people's sentiments, while his inner circles have it good. In a direct appeal to the elector- ate, Busuttil said "on Saturday it's your turn to talk and send a clear message that it's wrong to have a government which only cares about the persons in its inner circles". Saturday's elections, Busuttil added, were a golden opportunity to elect candidates who had the country's wellbeing at heart and who, unlike Labour, were capable of representing the people and achieving the best possible deals for Gozo and the rest of the coun- try. Busuttil went on to list the projects completed by the previous PN governments in Gozo including upgrades at the Gozo hospital, the restoration of the capital's old walls, the opening of a new ITS campus, new roads and new schools. PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said Labour had betrayed its pre-electoral pledges of meri- tocracy and "is a government that only cares for a small number of people in its inner circles." He said that while energy min- ister Konrad Mizzi's wife was awarded a job a €13,000-a-month job, students were given a 4c in- crease in their stipend, adding that this Saturday's European election presented the electorate with an opportunity to reject the Labour administration's "hypocrisy." News Next Saturday 'a choice between the political leaders' MIRIAM DALLI AS Malta goes to the polls on Satur- day to elect the six candidates that will represent the country in the European Parliament for the next five years, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has made a clear call to his grassroots: it is a moment of choice between himself and Simon Busut- til. Addressing the last in a series of activities organised by the Labour Party, Muscat told his constitu- ents that the 24 May elections are "a choice between a party stuck in the past and a movement that looks ahead". "It is also a moment of choice be- tween the leaders of the political parties. This government comes before you to be judged because we don't fear a challenge," Muscat said. Describing the Opposition as growing "more negative by the day", Muscat urged the electorate to vote for all Labour candidates. "Give us the courage to continue what we have started. Even what Busuttil is doing impacts lives: he abstained on civil unions, he hides from declaring his position on spring hunting and he has present- ed an Opposition which has noth- ing to offer." The activity in Zurrieq was also addressed by Labour MEP candi- dates Fleur Vella and Miriam Dalli, as well as Justice Minister Owen Bonnici. On Tuesday, the Nationalist Party called an urgent meeting of the public accounts commit- tee to discuss the next steps, as it insists on the publication of the contract signed between the gov- ernment and Individual Investor Programme (IIP) concessionaries Henley & Partners. The call was made after Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia ruled that the PAC was empowered to demand that the contract be pub- lished and scrutinised by the com- mittee. In an immediate reaction, the government said it will be pub- lishing all information in due time, excluding commercially sensitive information. Addressing the crowds gathered in Zurrieq, Bonnici did not make any reference to the Henley con- tract. However, he questioned the interest two unnamed PN MEP candidates enjoyed in a company – Arton Capital – that is challenging the government over the choice of Henley & Partners. "Since Simon Busuttil appears to have ethics at heart, and since he spent the past year criticising the IIP, how politically ethical is it that two of his candidates defend and have an interest in a company that came second and is now chal- lenging the government because it didn't win the contract? "If this company had won the contract, would he have said the programme was good?" Bonnici said that while the Op- position this week "chose to attack" the IIP, the one thing people will not forget is how Malta was attacked in the European Parliament. "When faced by a choice, the Na- tionalist MEPs chose to act against our country. People will not forget that the PN chose to score political points at the moment of truth." According to Bonnici, people with Nationalist backgrounds were telling the government they wanted "to work and help make the pro- gramme a success". Firing up the audience before Muscat's intervention, Bonnici said Simon Busuttil had backed away when Muscat "challenged him in the field". "How can you not vote for Joseph Muscat… a leader with a backbone? Be with us as we continue changing the face of this country," he said. Busuttil: Prime Minister 'detached' from reality PN leader says Prime Minister Joseph Muscat lost touch with reality and is insensitive to people's needs Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that the Opposition was "growing more negative by the day" Simon Busuttil said he wanted the PN to become "the people's party" once again