Abela refuses to say if any PN proposal would be endorsed by Labour<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Robert Abela avoided naming a single proposal from the Nationalist Party that he supported or would consider implementing if Labour is re-elected, instead opting to attack the PN’s credibility and costings.<\/p>\n
Asked by The Malta Independent whether there was any proposal promised by the Nationalist Party he liked and would endorse, Abela did not identify a single PN measure.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Prime Minister shifted focus to Labour’s own electoral proposals and contrasted what he described as Labour’s “credibility” and “competence” with what he called the PN’s “incompetence.”<\/p>\n
Abela pointed to Labour’s proposed €1,000 annual non-taxable “super bonus” for 200,000 workers, saying the measure had been fully costed at €200 million per year and structured in a way that excluded foreign workers from benefiting.<\/p>\n
He then accused the Nationalist Party of copying Labour proposals and attempting to outbid them politically.<\/p>\n
Abela said that the PN’s proposal to widen income tax bands was financially inconsistent.<\/p>\n
Echoing Finance Minister Clyde Caruana’s criticism of the proposal, Abela argued that the PN claimed 300,000 workers would benefit and that each worker would receive at least €1,200 annually, while simultaneously estimating the measure would cost between €110 million and €130 million a year.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister said the numbers did not add up, claiming that multiplying 300,000 workers by €1,200 would amount to €360 million annually, meaning the PN had underestimated the cost of the proposal by at least €250 million.<\/p>\n
Abela said such mistakes raised wider questions about the credibility of the PN’s broader electoral programme.<\/p>\n
He also defended Labour’s economic management over the past six and a half years, saying that his government had steered the country through major crises without making financial errors of that magnitude.<\/p>\n
Despite specifically asking whether there were any Nationalist Party proposals he admired or would adopt, the Prime Minister did not name or endorse a single PN proposal in his reply.<\/p>\n