Muscat: 'Credibility is the difference between myself and my opponent'

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia is not credible enough to lead the country, unlike the present administration, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted on Sunday.

Speaking at a political activity in Zejtun, Muscat said that while the Opposition appeared to have been excited by the prospect of tensions between teachers and the government, it was clear that the present government had taken better care of teachers, and that the latest conflict was simply a misunderstanding.

The Malta Union of teachers scrapped plans for a strike on Monday, which had been called over concerns regarding a newly-proposed set of laws to regulate the profession.

“The entire population was concerned over the strike issue. I had expected that we'd all be unified in search for a solution," Muscat said, adding that instead, the Opposition had again taken to role of a negative entity that spread misinformation.

"This government is credible because we made efforts to improve the status of teachers. We withdrew the bill to prove that this will happen again," the Prime Minister said.

Muscat said that government and ministers concerned did not expect there to be a problem because the consultation period had been a smooth affair.

"The strength of this government is humility," Muscat said. "We withdrew the bill because the consultation period had apparently not been clear enough. We need to sit down with the MUT again and make sure we reach an agreement."

Another issue that the Opposition wasn’t credible on, Muscat said, was the issue of planning and construction. Muscat was referring to the controversial approval of the db project in Pembroke. 

"The National Audit Office recently released a publication on the National Aquarium in Qawra," he said. "Though I think the project was a good one, it's been found that the previous PN government gave away ODZ land for free to a private entity."

The government said that this land on which the national aquarium was built was valued at €15 million and that the previous PN administration gave the concession away for free. "How can you preach and pontificate on good governance, bad deals and evaluations of ODZ land when these issues were completely forgotten by the PN in the past?"

Muscat said that this was not an excuse for the government to operate at low standards but just a reminder that credibility was the difference in politics.

The Prime Minister also made mention of the Delta summit that took place earlier this week, an event that brought together technologists and investors from across the globe. Muscat said that many companies were going to invest in Malta and that more announcements would be made in the near future. "The interest is being generated," he said, "because we're being innovative. We are writing laws that other countries are too afraid to create."

Muscat said that this new ecosystem is a plan for the future, for the children of the next generation and the current generation to have a new choice when it's time for them to start working.