On the deficit: I would rather keep the deficit as it is for a year or two, reduce public expenditure on a yearly basis by one or two per cent and pass on those cost savings directly to the taxpayer through a tax cut aimed at boosting the productive sectors. Rating agencies and other similar international agencies are expecting a significant cut in public expenditures Malta Financial and Business Times, July 2005
On trade unions Eurostat statistics show that our unit labour costs have been increasing by about 4%. Although wage increases lately have not been enormous, in view of our declining productivity, unit labour costs are increasing making our product more expensive. The unions have to be shown the statistics. Malta Financial and Business Times, July 2005
On Malta’s chances of joining the Eurozone So it seems you are not entirely sure of Malta’s chances at joining the euro in 2008?
I’m afraid so… it looks more like one who is trying one’s luck at passing an exam… I’d say Malta is pushing its luck. My cold-blooded assessment would be that the examiner would say that overall there are too many risks and uncertainties suggesting to us to give it another year. MaltaToday, October 2006
On economic reforms The EU, the IMF and the rating agencies are all very keen to see whether the government would credibly start a public finance reform, which includes pensions, health, tertiary education and social security. MaltaToday, July 2006
On the PN’s tax and spend economic policies You have a clearly unproductive shipyard. What do you do? You borrow heavily to subsidise their wages and low productivity for two decades. You provide expensive university education for free with a small salary to the student to boot. You provide the most generous pension scheme in Europe, free health for all, keep over-staffed ministries and government departments, and so on. And how do you do it? Tax and spend. And when you cannot tax, just borrow and borrow. MaltaToday, November 2008
On his decision to contest with Labour After Labour’s third consecutive electoral defeat last March, I felt the democratic deficit was too significant to ignore,” he begins. “On the one hand you have the Nationalist party which is projecting the image of ‘party is king’. They act as though they own the country, and will be in government forever. On the other hand, there was an Opposition whose morale was rock-bottom, absolutely zilch...” MaltaToday, May 2009
On stipends “It would be very presumptuous of me to say that we should ‘do away’ with stipends… But even a recent European Commission document suggests that they are a burden on the system. But these are things the taxpayer has to decide. Does the taxpayer want to keep subsidising university students? If not, there are a number of ways the system can be revised. They could be converted to loans, or grants, or part-loans, part-grants... it’s not up to me to decide how to reform the system.” MaltaToday, May 2009
Josie Muscat
Azzjoni Nazzjonali
On Mintoff While workers in Tal-Bastjun live on their daily bread, Mintoff now lives in his Olive Garden villa, works in a palace and dines with the rich. In-Nazzjon, 1974
On the ‘new order’ We should propose a totally different road. We should show the people a new order where everyone earns as much money as he can and pays the least possible taxes, where enterprise and hard work are rewarded with money and the best jobs, and where the highest values are cultural and spiritual, not monetary. Ir-Rieda, 1981
On the construction of Mater Dei It only serves to make some people rich but it made Malta poorer. MaltaToday , February 2006
On the PN government Do we have a government who is leading, or do we have four or five powerful people holding the two political parties by the balls? MaltaToday, February 2006
On the far right label What is far right in us? We want to elevate peoples’ status higher, we are concerned with the levels of taxation being imposed upon the middle class so that their monies go to the rich, and we’re concerned the gap between rich and poor is growing. Is that far right? MaltaToday , June 2007
On marrying foreigners I’m not saying it’s wrong. I can’t tell people whom to marry. My uncle was married to an English woman; my daughter-in-law is of mixed stock but born here. But it worries me: look at single-parent families, broken marriages, more cohabiting couples and more people refusing to get married. It’s this whole state of affairs that worries me, and it’s being compounded. There’s also illegal immigrants, which as you know are now allowed to bring their families here. MaltaToday , June 2007
On reopening the EU package What we want to do is renegotiate the treaty ‘a modo nostro’… in a way that is acceptable to both the hunters and the EU. MaltaToday , February 2008
On broadcasting Let me tell you how serious this country is. We have to pay to make our voices heard. PBS, the national broadcaster, never invited us on any of their programmes. And obviously both Net and One TV ignored us completely. So we had to pay to go on Smash TV… and then, by law, we have to invite representatives of the other parties for the sake of balance. So from the programme we have paid for ourselves, we only have one third of the airtime to make our own point. Is this serious? Come on! You can’t even call this a Mickey Mouse country, because Mickey Mouse will get offended… MaltaToday , February 2008
On times gone by It is more encouraging to learn that the majority of you are deeply concerned by events unfolding in our island, an island that up to some years ago was known for its family values, rule of law, honesty and righteousness.
Unfortunately, all this has gone overboard. Our social and financial problems worsen as our values reach rock bottom. To add insult to injury, the illegal immigration problem is worsening and as things stand, tends to become worse, with all that brings with it in the immediate and worse still, in the not too distant future. An appeal to Maltese migrants on Facebook, January 2009
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I would rather keep the deficit as it is for a year or two, reduce public expenditure on a yearly basis by one or two per cent and pass on those cost savings directly to the taxpayer through a tax cut aimed at boosting the productive sectors. Rating agencies and other similar international agencies are expecting a significant cut in public expenditures
While workers in Tal-Bastjun live on their daily bread, Mintoff now lives in his Olive Garden villa, works in a palace and dines with the rich.
