Ot attending tes on one day’

with the consequent sacking of 65,000, almost as if this overreaction was planned. Today, one doubts if Turkey can access the EU.

Dr Busuttil next spoke about the Ernst & Young conference he attended last week together with the prime minister at the Chamber of Commerce.

The Nationalist Party wants the country to move on to the next level.

He referred to the document published by MP Claudio Grech last November. The E&Y conference agreed on five proposals, two of which are in the Claudio Grech document.

One proposal is to turn Malta into a hub of logistics. Last week he (Dr Busuttil) visited the Freeport which employs about 1,000 employees. It was built around the principle Malta can be a hub and it has now grown to be the second largest freeport in Europe, handling three million containers a year.

Malta can move to become an ICT and related areas hub.

He was very surprised to hear the Prime Minister say at that same conference that he does not think it should continue to expand and he does not think the Freeport workers and their families enjoyed hearing this.

The Opposition is worried by the direction the economy is taking:

- the government is spending too much, especially on employing more and more people in positions of trust, such as Phyllis Muscat and Sai Mizzi

- government is clearly preferring the construction industry

- SMEs are not finding enough funding;

- and there is traffic chaos all around.

But the worst issue that is negatively impacting on Malta’s good name is the negative publicity surrounding Malta as a result of the various scandals that have embroiled government in this legislature. Will the taxes paid for by the Maltese pay for Keith Schembri’s salary? And what about Konrad Mizzi whose audit never seems to finish? The Prime Minister has been reported to be on his way to Singapore for the launch of the LNG tanker to be used at the power station and he is taking both Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri with him. Will people who meet them ask themselves how much extras will they have to pay them?

Corruption is a tax we all have to pay, such as the higher price on petrol and diesel. People who are on the minimum wage and cannot keep up with expenses are also paying for the corruption. So too are people who are sick with cancer and who cannot pay for the expensive medicines and have to go begging to the Community Chest for money.

This is a government that has lost its moral compass, a government that is not giving moral leadership to the country.

Dr Busuttil also referred to the outburst by former Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon in Parliament who attacked and named members on the Auditor General staff. For this he was not condemned by the Prime Minister. What does Dr Falzon think about the way he was treated by the PM and the way Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri were? On his part, when the AG reported on something smaller that happened in PN times, he (Dr Busuttil) said he will abide by the AG’s recommendations.