In his first comments following the 2025 Budget speech presented in Parliament on Monday evening, Nationalist Party Leader Bernard Grech said that “after 13 Budgets presented by Labour, and after being told that the best times (L-Aqwa ?mien) are yet to come, we are now told we need to move towards a quality nation – an admission of failure and mediocrity.”

The PN Leader stated that, “Gozo is not only not a priority but has been hit even harder with a substantial reduction in project expenditure.”

Grech went on to say that “this Government has given up hope of providing solutions to the Maltese and Gozitan people. We have a Government and a Prime Minister caught up in chaos of their own making.”

The PN Leader insisted that “after telling us that an increase in population would fund pensions, the Government announced in its Budget speech that it would raise the pension age. In a few words, it admitted that its policy had failed.”

“Following the clear message from June’s election and every poll since then, Robert Abela is only concerned with how he will manage from one day to the next,” stated Grech.

“We have a Government ignoring unions that told it not to tax the cost-of-living increase. We have a Government that creates nothing for our children but more and more debt,” he added.

The PN Leader noted that “after doubling the debt to 10 billion euro, the Government is now telling us it needs to borrow no less than another three billion.”

Grech highlighted that “a year ago, we were here, pointing out the issues Maltese people talk about first and foremost,” namely:

“A high cost of living that continues to rise, making it harder for people to make ends meet

“Traffic and chaos at all times of day

“Waste and neglect throughout the country

“Excessive population impacting critical sectors such as education and healthcare as the Government prefers cheap foreign labour over locals

“Corruption at every turn

“Ongoing waiting list issues in hospitals and no answers about the 400 million stolen in the Vitals and Steward scandal

“Power cuts and sewage in the sea.”

Photo: PN

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