This newspaper has a long record of interviewing Prime Minister Joseph Muscat over the years – from his time as an MEP, to leader of the Labour Party and to Prime Minister. But the readiness with which Muscat would once agree to be interviewed has dissipated, perhaps in direct proportion to criticism over his handling of the Panama Papers fallout.
An interview with the Prime Minister on the occasion of his 10th anniversary as Labour Party leader was declined this week because of scheduling difficulties, but the truth of the matter is that this newspaper's approaches for one-on-one interviews have been consistently turned down since March 2016. Muscat has also refused an invitation to be interviewed on The Malta Independent's programme INDEPTH several times too.
So instead of a fully-fledged interview, we have chosen some choice quotes from interviews with Joseph Muscat over the years.
May 2011
Divorce: a simple choice between tolerance and intolerance
"I have been the most vociferous political leader in this country to speak my mind clearly on the need for divorce. I have done this over the last three years, and have done so even more forcefully over the last three to four weeks. I personally took a very decisive stance in favour of the 'yes' camp, and I'm proud to have done that.
"I do not regret that stance, whatever the result of the referendum. I want people to know what I stand for and I won't change the tune simply because I might not be popular or I might scare off some votes. If I believe in something I will say it, I will not be drawn into the politics of numbers. I would much prefer to stand for the politics of principles and not politics of convenience.
"I honestly believe the issue has less to do with divorce and more to do with tolerance and how much our society is ready not only to tolerate, but to accept diversity when it comes to tolerance toward minority rights. I think this will be a litmus test for our society."
December 2011
We know where we are going and we know how we will get there
"I think the business community, rightly so, had reservations from past Labour governments and I want to assure them that this Labour Party is business friendly and is open for business, that our way of looking at things right now is that, in order to create more wealth and jobs, we need to partner up and reassure businesses that they can invest safely and that we will be honest brokers with them.
"The way things are being done, even the way this government considers different investors – most of the time if you are foreign you are welcome but if a Maltese or Gozitan investor comes forward with the same or a better idea, they are in for a hell of a time.
"We will do it, and this carbon-capture technology [the former Sargas proposal] is just one of the possibilities that we have. The Prime Minister knows about this possibility, but there are other possibilities. We are not telling the people to simply trust us, we will do something; no, we are telling people look, when decision time comes we will put forward our plan, the different possibilities that we have, which we will be short-listing, and we will seek the best solution for our environment and our economy.
"I am sorry to hear the Prime Minister [Lawrence Gonzi] looking at innovation as some sort of experimentation: it is not. I think he would not have believed the internet or Wi-Fi would have been possible, how could you connected to the whole world so many years ago – a fairly tale to have an iPad – but maybe that is the difference between our generations. My generation is not afraid of the future and it is not afraid of innovation. I think people who are afraid of innovation are a disservice to their country."
March 2013
Labouring for a new future for the country
"Most people are feeling that this is more than a general election, that they are not only choosing a government but also a different style of governing. Many rightly feel that this could really be a watershed for Maltese politics in terms of a new way of governing.
"For us it was simple, people want politicians to work as hard as they do. And, speaking as a citizen and not as a party leader, I wonder why this has not been done yet. It is very much a symptom of the whole system.
"What we are speaking about is a genuine change towards the future. Yes, there will be disagreements with the government, but the way decisions are taken, the way they are communicated and the way they are reviewed will be totally different.
"I think one main challenge will be to embrace social media, this new way of communicating. Not in the formal sense – it is not about websites, it is about attitude. It is about bringing social media and the concept of networking into decision-making processes. It is about going to the people with regular meetings.
"For us, civil liberties are fundamental rights. For others, they are mere concessions. The Nationalist Party is slowly and gradually moving in that direction but for us, it is exactly where we want to go.
"We have actually been quite heavily criticised for being pro-business. I think that is a fantastic thing to be criticised about, because being pro-business means we are pro-jobs.
"Some call it the Third Way but I will not stick labels on anything. I think the state needs to focus on enabling wealth creation and on ensuring the fairest possible distribution of that wealth so that it truly reaches all sections of society.
March 2014
Government is delivering
"Energy has been and remains the main challenge for the country. It is also an area where everyone has realised that we are delivering. In the space of a year, we have done what others had said was impossible, some had described it as an 'Alice in Wonderland' pledge, but we are meeting our commitment to reduce electricity bills for families starting at the end of this month.
"The energy sector's challenges have been enormous. What we found was an antiquated structure in terms of mentality, the infrastructure itself, corruption, massive debt and no prospects for the future.
"Whereas the former Nationalist government's only way of keeping Enemalta afloat was to raise electricity bills, in one year we have had a turnaround at Enemalta. But that is not to say that there is not still a lot of work to do in the area in terms of creating more alternative, renewable and clean energy.
"But on balance, I can say with hand on heart that the performance of my government has surprised many, in that we have delivered on the principal points of our electoral manifesto and we did not leave them until the end of the legislature. We are cutting electricity bills, we have made income tax cuts, refunds for VAT paid on car registrations, and the youth guarantee initiative and many others.
"Another major challenge is the health sector. This is another area, like energy, which we found in a disastrous state. Another is the environment and striking the right balance. But this is not a lip-service government. Love us or hate us, we are doing what needs to be done for the country. It is a challenge to understand and act on the concerns of both environmentalists and developers, and to have both sides of the equation understand each other better. This is not easy, but it is doable. Another enormous challenge is in the area of social housing, where there are some 3,000 pending applications for housing and just 38 empty dwellings.
"[On the Individual Investor Programme] "You need to look around you to gauge the opportunities out there and what other countries are doing. That is what we did and what we are doing now is not that much different from what other countries have been doing for many years. We just made it more competitive.
"I can also tell you that there are other countries that in the next few weeks are going to copy what we are doing in terms of the IIP. But the name of the game is to be one step ahead and not be afraid of being copied."
March 2016
On Konrad Mizzi's and Keith Schembri's "politically naïve and very insensitive" financial planning: "Asking for financial advice is something everyone does. The advice was legal, but insensitive and naïve. I think that the starting point should be the accusations that are being made. To my understanding, no one is saying that there were illegalities, apart from the Opposition Leader. People are saying that things should have been done better or should not have been done at all. I understand this and can relate to that kind of declaration.
"I think that with the Socar deal he [Mizzi] took decisions that saved the country a lot of money and I contest the claim that the country incurred losses as a result of it. Konrad Mizzi also adopted policies that have led to cheaper and more stable fuel prices. I believe we can always improve and learn. We are not perfect and we cannot say that we have not made mistakes. But we started off with inheriting a weak economy and turned it to the extent that we have historic economic growth. We have also ushered in huge social change and have record unemployment. We have made mistakes and we have to be humble enough to keep learning from these mistakes and make sure they are repeated as little as possible.
"I believe I know what happened to the Opposition Leader – he was led to believe by those who gave him the information that a secret company being used to hide millions had been uncovered. He went for it without possessing all the information. If he is right, Mizzi will resign and all the necessary measures will be taken, without limit or precedent. If Mizzi was telling the truth, then I will not even say that Busuttil should apologise – that's up to him – but people will have a much better idea of the situation.
"Keith Schembri decided to serve his country. There were others before him who served in that role, like Richard Cachia Caruana, who were also involved in business, but no one ever raised questions about them.
"But I believe that the world changes and one has to face such questions. The position taken by Keith Schembri was to relinquish his directorships. Also, as far as I know, his companies do not bid for government tenders. He took the decision to detach himself from business and he is focusing completely on his work at the OPM.
On whether kickbacks were offered during that 'secret' trip to Azerbaijan by Muscat, Schembri and Mizzi: "Of course not! Absolutely not! I deny that most categorically. I think that we made a mistake by not taking journalists with us. At the time we were reviewing the system of taking (and paying for) journalists on government trips and we really thought that this was not that important. Again, let me be clear, nothing was offered and I cannot imagine a scenario where such an offer could be made. You have every right to ask. I have no problem with that."
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