Many families are worried that the coming increase in water and electricity bills will continue to diminish their purchasing power and make it more difficult for them to take care of the needs of their families.
Industrial companies and hotels have been shocked to learn during the past days that government cannot continue to cap their water and electricity bills as this goes against European Union regulations.
The PN knew before the general elections last March that once returned to power it would raise water and electricity bills for families and remove the capping for manufacturing companies and hotels. The PN cannot hide behind the excuse of any unforeseen development taking place that has made the PN government change what it promised during the last general election campaign. During that campaign, oil prices were already very high and rising. The PN acknowledged this in its electoral programme and went ahead and promised that it had its own solutions to help the country face the rising oil and food prices. Its solutions have been very simple: increasing the burden of higher prices on families and businesses.
The PN also knew that EU regulations prohibit capping the cost of electricity and water for business concerns. Yet it told the industrial and tourism operators nothing about these regulations and now they have to face increased operating costs at a time when their overseas markets are facing severe difficulties due to the credit crunch and the collapse of American jungle capitalism in the financial sector.
I know that the PN leaders get very upset when I say that GonziPN excels at two-faced politics, one smiling face making promises before the election and another face delivering the opposite after the election. The self-righteousness of the PN leaders is without any limits: they indulge in immoral politics yet project themselves as occupying the high moral ground.
In his sermon on the mount at Floriana two weeks ago, Dr Gonzi told Labour not to leave politics out of education. Last February and the beginning of March, he rubbished one of Labour’s education proposals, distorting it to scare away parents. Imagine if Labour were to do the same and make partisan political issues out of government’s proposals to remove streaming and change the Junior Lyceum examination!
Months ago, the PN government admitted that the prices of school uniforms, books and other education items have increased a lot and are becoming too stiff for many families. Five months ago it directed an ill-equipped Office for Fair Trade to investigate prices in this sector, promising that the investigation would be ready before the start of the new school year. The new school year started and the investigation is still under way and parents have had to pay lots of money to send their children off to school in new uniforms. Last August school transport providers said that trips would increase by at least 15% and it is only now, after school started, that government has ordered an investigation into the increased cost of school transport.
Government is insensitive to the problems that many working and middle class families face as they try to cope with an increased cost of living.
Before the election the GonziPN boasted that it was running the country with a safe pair of hands, and that public finances were so healthy that it would balance the budget in two years’ time.
At the same time during the election campaign Gonzi PN spent lots of money and used income tax and VAT exemptions to buy votes. Now the PN is admitting a huge increase in the budget deficit and tries to blame it on high oil prices, which were already there when it was boasting about its efficient management of public finances.
In the election campaign, GonziPN discovered a new environmental awareness that had been missing in previous years. While doing all it could to co-opt environmental non-government organizations, GonziPN was also seducing the hunters and bird trappers, promising them that they would continue to enjoy their pastimes in the future as they did in the past.
GonziPN did not deliver on this promise and it knew this before the election. Before the election GonziPN promised more incentives to encourage more citizens to use eco-friendly fridges, and after the election promptly removed these incentives.
Before the March election, dockyard workers were promised more work, a higher income and a brighter future. But after the election they were told to leave their work, take up early retirement schemes and now those of them who are taking up new jobs have to accept a drastic cut in their wages and in the quality of the life of their families.
Young couples were also promised that after the election the PN would extend subsidies to help them afford a new apartment. Many couples went ahead and signed agreements to buy houses only for government to decide to do away with these schemes. More couples and families are finding it more difficult to afford to buy an apartment where to live.
Before the election GonziPN promised a new way of appointing government and public boards: they would be filled on merit after a call for applications. No such calls have been issued and all the boards have been packed with ministers’ friends and cronies.