The Prime Minister must think the Chamber of Commerce are “stupid fools” too

The Chamber of Commerce has said this morning that it was surprised and disappointed when the government did not announce during Monday’s Budget speech that it would be lowering electricity rates.

The Chamber spoke in (negative) reaction to the Prime Minister’s claim during a press conference that it was only the Opposition leader who expected electricity rates to be cut, saying he was a “stupid fool” for thinking it.

Here, the Chamber is saying tacitly that it wasn’t just the Opposition leader who expected the cuts, but the Chamber and its members too, which means that in the Prime Minister’s view they too must be “stupid fools”.

But the Prime Minister and his government are, now as per standard, caught between a rock and a hard place. Over the course of the last four years, they have raised people’s expectations of electricity tariffs cuts. This is the Muscat government’s fourth Budget – that is, the last one before the Big Election Budget – and it still hasn’t happened. This, however, could have been foreseen, which is why Muscat thinks those who didn’t foresee it (or claim not to) are “stupid fools”.

The Corruption Station being constructed by Labour Party backers Gasan/Fenech at Delimara is nowhere near commissioning date and their LNG tanker is still touring round Malta providing a ‘let’s spot the tanker’ sideshow for members of the public. If Muscat cuts electricity tariffs now, it is tantamount to an admission that the Gasan/Fenech power station for which corrupt arrangements were clearly made is totally unnecessary for this purpose, because tariffs can be cut without it.