The central theme of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, was that the country is not in crisis. Parts of it are, parts are not. Taken as a whole it is certainly not relaxing on a bed of roses.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi prefers smelling roses than removing thorns

Whether it was a figment of Mgr Gonzi’s imagination, or whether Dom Mintoff deliberately gave that impression, it was the climax of the bitter Church-Labour dispute and the beginning of eight years of social banishment of MLP supporters.

Prime Minister Gonzi could not be trusted, he repeated, since there was no visible and plausible explanation for the ballooning deficit which reached €345 million in August.

Partisan party considerations and public funds and cost should not mix.

The government is undecided on a lot of things including the budget date, its content, Malta’s EU commissioner, government re-shuffle and utility tariffs. It is not even replying to our most simple parliamentary questions and no motion we presented in well over a year was discussed