Truly unbelievable
Min jaf what fun they’re going to be as the new government.
The Labour leader announced today – without knowing what’s going to be in the Budget – that the Opposition will vote against it.
All well and good, but it’s usual for the Opposition to keep up the pretence at least of reading the Budget documents and listening to the Budget speech before taking a decision to vote against.
This business of voting against something without even bothering to see whether it’s good or bad is quite sickening, really.
But there’s worse, and it’s even more shameless, really.
Muscat also said that if the Budget is rejected (by means of a Labour block vote together with Franco, Jazza and Jeff), the incoming Labour government (ghax issa we’ve moved from being the underdog to taking victory for granted) will use that Budget.
Problem solved for Labour, with its crack team of clueless economists. Why don’t they go one step further and retain the services of Tonio Fenech as consultant to the Labour Minister of Finance (handbags at dawn between the pensioners Edward Scicluna and Il-Guy), u ghan-naqra isibu ufficja ghal Lawrence Gonzi Kastilja ukoll?
I quote from timesofmalta.com:
Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning that Labour would vote against the Budget, but should the Budget be rejected, a Labour government would still retain its framework and its positive aspects in order to reassure investors and families.
(…)
The prime minister had said that the Budget was a vote of confidence. Therefore the Opposition could not vote in favour of the Budget because it had no confidence in the government.
If the Budget was defeated, a new government, whichever it was, would need to present a new Budget.
(…)
After consultations it had been decided that, in the national interest and to give the people peace of mind, if the Budget was defeated, a Labour government would still retain its framework. It would retain its positive aspects so as to assure investors, the workers, pensioners, and students.
“If pensioners receive something from this Budget, if students see progress in this Budget, if workers see advancement, if families are given new benefits in this Budget, if the self employed move forward after so much hardship, the Labour government will honour all these points,” Dr Muscat said.
Therefore, he said, no one should try to scare people. The people would know that a Labour government meant certainty and stability.
This is supposed to be reassuring, but strangely, it is anything but. It is disturbing. It smacks of an incoming team who haven’t a clue what to do, and who hastily grab at the outgoing team’s plans with a sigh of relief.
“Look, we can do this ourselves.”
Excuse me? Labour is supposed to be giving us a different government. Change, remember? The Budget is the pivot of all government business. It is the framework of that business. How, then, can Joseph Muscat tear to shreds everything this government is doing and then say it will use Tonio Fenech’s Budget when it gets in?
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Stop press. Joseph Muscat announces that he will adopt PN’s electoral programme if Labour is elected to government.
This should prevent the Nationalists from criticising the most feminist government in the history of Malta.
ciccio:Jaqaw xrobt l-inbid qabel ktibt dan il-kumment ? Dr. Muscat qal li gvern laburista, jekk jinghata l-fiducja, jekk il-budget ma jghaddix, lest li jzomm il-punti pozittivi tal-budget hall jkun hawn li stabilita bil-bidla fil-gvern. MELA MHUX IL-PROGRAM ELETTORALI !
CICCIO, TIDHER LI INT TIBLA KULL MA TAQRA F’DAN IL-BLOG !
Oh gawd, Eddy, another of the literalists, i.e. a person who takes everything at face value; bil-Malti, ezattament “jibla kull ma jaqra”.
What a fool you are making of yourself, Eddy – keep us entertained.
Daphne, when you wrote : “How,then, can Joseph Muscat tear to shreds everything this government is doing and then say it will use Tonio Fenech’s Budget when it gets in “, you knew you were not writing the truth ! Probably you believe that GonziPN commentators who post comments on your blog, only listen and watch Net TV , Radio 101 and read In-Nazzjon. And hence, wouldn’t have heard what Dr. Muscat had said.!
Dr.MUscat said that IN CASE TE BUDGET I NOT APPROVED, in order not to have more instability, a PL government – “if given the people’s trust” – would keep any positive measures within the framework of the budget (since this would have already had the “go ahead” from the EU ). AND WILL BUILD ON THEM.
At least just try to be honest with your own admirers !
His psychic sidekick Anglu Farrugia Van Praagh told il Duce what is in the budget through his amazing ESP powers.
Ken il-Malti: Id-Duce kien dak li l-PN KIEN JADURAH ! Fittex li storja politika ta’ pajjizna ( mhux fuq in-Net TV, jew in-Nazzjon )izda fl-arkivji nazzjonali. U anki f’dawk tal-Gran Brittania.
Unbelievable is an understatement. There is saying in Maltese ”Wiccu u s**** l-istess” which highlights the cheek (excuse the pun) that this individual has.
Hekku ta’ GonziPN TAL-PEPE, ukoll ! JPS wiehed minnhom !
I can’t help wondering about this “no change” which Joseph is promising us.
One thing’s for sure; we’ll be shortchanged.
Is this guy of Maltese descent?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/georgeosborne/9686171/George-Osbornes-aide-arrested-over-bar-fracas.html
If he is a speech writer for a British MP, he must have had good private education, probably boarding school, in the UK and his mother is definitely a native speaker of English.
[Daphne – One of my sons was a speechwriter for a British ambassador (not in Malta) and he wasn’t educated privately in England, though he did have the latter advantage.]
Today Joseph Muscat showed us that he has nothing new to offer, i.e. he only wants power. Today power is in the people’s hands.
If I had any doubt how to vote in the election, he left me with no choice but to vote to PN.
So much for their “proposals”.
Rubbish.I would never approve something endorsed by someone else.That is copying
Lola: Then PN governments should not have accepted ALL the social services laws which the labour government had enacted ! What utter stupidity
Unfortunately it is very believable being that it is Joseph Muscat and his truckload of fools that we are talking about.
Does anyone have the link to the video I just saw on the news of Joseph Muscat saying this? It sounds so much more scary when you actually hear him saying it.
If he keeps only what he considers to be the good things of the budget, (obviously the vote-catching ones), how exactly does he intend financing them.
Joseph Muscat is surrounded by fools who have to rely on Tonio Fenech’s budget because they can’t come up with one themselves, and he relies on fools who claim to be fed up of the present government, to vote for Labour to make this happen.
Like I’ve said before, technically we don’t need the PL. Why vote in someone new when the current administration can do a better job of keeping things going because they were the ones who came up with it in the first place?
If it isn’t broken then don’t fix it.
Truly unbelievable? With Labour, nothing surprises me.
Apart from the fact that Labour have made it a habit of taking over that which is not theirs, and which others have worked hard for …
That is so true. They take over out of jealousy and in the process they ruin everything.
What bothers me most is that there are so many other issues that need to be addressed, so many other important problems that need to be tackled, and neither side is actually talking about them.
If Labour thinks the only thing that people care about are utility bills, they must live in some warped reality. In fact, I would say that they are more cut off from the people than the PN are.
You’ll believe it all right, in just a few months ( or weeks ?) time .
Their body language says it all.
Joseph Muscat has suddenly rendered this end-of-legislature Budget very relevant.
He will retain the positive aspects of the budget even though he would have voted against them in the first place.
Truly a skipload of rubbish.
Mela meta taccetta xi haga tajba ifisser li taccetta kollox, anki il-hazin ????? Dan l-argument minn mohhok hrigtu jew minn x’imkien iehor ?
in my opinion this is a marketing tool to attract those still undecided voters; to reassure them, to show them he is trustworthy, to bring them into his ‘moviment’, so we move forward (min dan il guh), for the sake of our children bla bla bla…. confident in its abilities, it will keep whatever good the present government has done and just fix the rest. ‘tinkwetawx ta’!’
But he failed to say what his future budgets would be like.
The first one is OK because he will still be operating on the PN’s goverment successes, which proves that the current financial and economic plans are sound as certified by foreign institutions.
He still has to specify how he is going to fund, and over what period of time, the reduction in the utilities tariffs, the refund of VAT on new cars since 2004, the land reclamation projects similar to Dubai, the rapid investment in alternative energy, the conversion of the power station to gas including the construction of the gas importation/storage facilities, and all the other promises he is making as he goes along playing a double game with the electorate.
Il-vera amateur miskin. Mhux ta’ xejn jattratta l-aktar sezzjoni injoranta tal-poplu Malti.
Araw min irid imexxina fi ftit xhur ohra.
Litteralment tal-biza.
jattira. mhux jattratta.
Yes, that’s right – I meant “jattira”.
I use several languages on a daily basis. Sometimes I tend to get confused.
Thank you for the correction, Min Weber.
TinaB.: Mela int tqis ruhek mas-sezzjoni tal-inteligenti, hux ? mela jidher li l-maggoranza kbira tal-poplu Malti injurant, skont INT ! Ir-risposta jtuhielek dalwaqt.
X’risposta hi, Privitera? Jigifieri ghax Joseph Muscat jattira il-maggoranza tal-Maltin ghalik dan ikun ifisser li il-maggoranza huma intelligenti?
Diga ilna zmien nafu li il-lijder tieghek ha jkun Prim Ministru fi ftit xhur ohra, ma hemmx ghafejn tigi tghidilna. Ara int (jew forsi min jibghatek titfa ruxxmata kummenti hawn) donnok ghadek m’intix konvint.
Tina B. Jekk mela tqis li l-maggoranza tal-Maltin huma injurant- jew mhux intelligenti – i, mela ghalhekk il-PN ilu kwazi 25 sena fil-gvern, hux hekk ??? Sparajt ghal saqajk u lanqas indunajt !
Sent this off to some American economist friends—they’re still laughing.
Their comment? ‘This is the alternative government? What alternative?’
This naive, foolish, nay, dumb boy, controlled by even ‘dumber’ pensioners, is exposing their total lack of any creativty or economic foresight. Totally useless.
Try them at your peril.
Dr. Muscat, please make up your mind. Is the country in a position to improve the lot for workers,students and pensioners or is it not? You can’t have it both ways.
Prime MInister Gonzi had recently labelled the next budget as the PN’s electoral programme.
So now we are being told that if Joseph Muscat’s ‘Moviment’ wins the next general election his government will use the Nationalist budget which by implication means that the PL will scrap its own electoral programme to use the Nationalist electoral programme instead.
So why vote for Muscat’s Moviment, why vote to change party since it’s Muscat himself who is indirectly admitting that the PN’s electoral programme would be superior to his?
Din gdida. mela l-program elettorali – li ma jiswa xejn ghax hafna minnhu jibqa fuq il-karta biss – se jkun ghaal sena wahda biss ! Daqstant qata qalbu Gonzi , li jemmen li kieku b’cikka jirbah l-elezzjoni, ma jdumx aktar minn sena wahda ?
I don’t think that what Dr. Muscat said was an intelligent statement.
What he meant that if elected there will be continuity?
If we wanted this, we might as well vote P.N. because what we expect are new ideas, new way of governing.
What I also expected in this blog were some comments on what Dr. Gonzi had to say about Sargas.
Was this statement not worthy of being debated?
[Daphne – Silvio, I am producing two magazines at once right now, and given that I don’t have staff, you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t comment about absolutely everything that needs commenting on over the next few days.]
It’s now nearly 3 o’clock, so I expect most of you are still in dreamland, but please when you read the papers at breakfast, try and decide who was right, John Dalli or Gonzi.
Message received and UNDERSTOOD.
As the Italians say, Buon Lavoro.
Joseph Muscat knows that he won’t win the election on sound arguments, deep down the electorate feels safe under the Gonzi administration. He cannot criticize the PN on the economy, job creation, education, environment or the infrastructure, all he can say is the usual rant of “too little, too late”, of which we’ve had up to here.
Joseph will continue building the city-gate project, he will ask Gonzi to inaugurate it.
Joseph will continue building the MCAST at Paola.
Joseph will continue encouraging photovoltaic panel installations on our rooftops.
And now Joseph will vote against the GonziPN budget and later endorse it. Please note that Gonzi said that the Budget will be a mirror image of the PN electoral program.
The message JosephPL wants to bring home is that “there will be no change in policies, PL will only change the faces of which you got fed up seeing for the past twenty five years”.
If it works don’t try to fix it.
Mhux ta’ b’xejn li dawn il-kummenti bla sens tiktbuhom fuq dan il-blog ! iktbu listess fuq Times-on-line, isa !
This is the best confirmation yet that this government is actually presenting sensible budgets and yes, it knows the way forward for this country.
So if this is the case, why should we need to change, just for the sake of change.
Considering what Muscat said, if he studies well what he said he will realize that for the benefit of his Party and an increased chance of winning the election, voting IN FAVOUR of the budget would add many brownie points to the party. But I do not think that Muscat can ever decypher this probability.