Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/828624
maltatoday, FRIDAY, 26 MAY 2017 7 News Busuttil: 'Muscat has fallen to a new absurd and ridiculous low' Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had stooped to new lows if he thought people would believe suggestions that Russia had planted a secret agent to undermine his re-election PAUL COCKS PRIME Minister Joseph Mus- cat has fallen so low that it is "ridiculous, absurd and – al- low me – even arrogant" to think that people would actu- ally believe Russia was trying to undermine his re-election, Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil said yesterday evening. Busuttil, who was addressing a public meeting in his home- town of Lija, noted that the Russian embassy had issued a media release, categorically rejecting the recent allega- tions against Russia as abso- lutely unfounded and untrue. Prime minister Joseph Mus- cat claimed on Wednesday that he had received reports from the security services of the US and UK – the CIA and MI6 – suggesting that news linking him to secret Panama company Egrant may have been planted by a Russian secret agent in retaliation to Malta's decision not to refuel a Russian aircraft carrier while on its way to Syria. Busuttil said that this latest story showed just how desper- ate Muscat was becoming. The Labour Party election race in the fourth district – where Chris Fearne and Kon- rad Mizzi are both running - was further evidence of the party's desperate measures to grab votes. "Chris Fearne is sending his constituents a plastic bag containing some oranges," he said. "Does he really think he can buy the people in the fourth district with some or- anges? And Konrad Mizzi went one further and is send- ing the constituents a bottle of wine." Busuttil reiterated his vow to appoint a new police commis- sioner as soon as he became prime minister to investigate all cases of corruption, graft or money laundering and to ensure all guilty parties were brought to justice. He said the party was also committed to creating 30,000 new quality jobs and to pay a lot of attention to sport, pro- viding new facilities, schemes for athletes and a national campaign promoting sport ac- tivity. "We intend to apply, and work hard to secure approval, to host the 2023 Small Nations Games, to be named the 2024 European City of Sport and to the host the 2025 Mediterra- nean Games," Busuttil said. He said that a new Forza Nazzjonali government would make sure Valletta is celebrat- ed as it deserves in its twelve months as European Capital of Culture next year. Busuttil singled out a num- ber of election proposals pre- sented by Forza Nazzjonali, including lowering to 10% the income tax on the first €50,000 profit of self-employed people and small businesses, and re- ducing the price of petrol and diesel by 5c per litre immedi- ately upon election. "Joseph Muscat, not happy to have denied you the reduc- tions in prices you have de- served these past four years, he has now said he opposed our proposal," Busuttil said. "And yet, only some months ago he called a press confer- ence, with all the bells and whistles and all the theatrics he could think of, only to an- nounce a 2c drop in the price of petrol and diesel." As to transport and traffic congestion on the roads, Bu- suttil said Forza Nazzjonali had proposed that students attending Church and pri- vate schools be provided free transport, like those attend- ing government schools, as a short-term solution to reduc- ing the number of cars on the roads. "In the meantime, we will be working on introducing a nationwide metro system in a revolutionary project that is long overdue for our country," he said. The Nationalist Party leader said the environment was pos- sibly the most to suffer under this administration, and that this had started in the back- room deals the Muscat and those around him were negoti- ating even before the election. PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said that if the Labour Party thought the PN would be caught unawares if it called a snap election, the campaign – and the elec- toral manifesto launched on Wednesday – showed that the opposition was more than pre- pared, not only to deliver its message, but also to lead the country. "We are sending a message to all cross-sections of society that we are ready to work hand in hand with them all," he said. "Four years ago, you en- trusted me and my fellow of- ficers to rebuild our party and lead it to this election and we are here today with a winning party at what is the last stretch separating us from changing the direction the country was heading in."