8 October 2007 Rating 25% No Comment  

Alternattiva Demokratika has challenged Prime Minister Gonzi to start putting an end to the rent injustice from this Budget. Dr. Harry Vassallo said that "despite Prime Minister's Gonzi's gimmicks and fake promises, the country will not be tricked into believing that this government, or the next, will embark on a comprehensive reform in the rent laws to rectify an injustice that thousands of families have been suffering for 62 years." The party leader added,"It is a scandal that a reform in the rent laws, which was on the PN electoral manifesto in 1987, has never been carried out. Minister Dolores Cristina has been lying about a White Paper on rent reform promising to present it to Parliament four times over the last 3 years. To date nothing has been done." "The government is missing its own deadlines in order to buy enough time before the next election. Prime Minister Gonzi is now trying to shed responsibility by stating that he will be writing to the opposition. He does not need the opposition's approval to reform an injustice his party has been promising to rectify for 20 years. What he needs is courage". The party spokesperson on Finance and the Economy also presented a challenge to the government. He said that "we have no reason to believe that Dr. Gonzi will move on this issue. His recent promise to write to the opposition on this matter is just another gimmick to buy time. We are therefore challenging Dr. Gonzi to implement our budget proposals in this regard. We have proposed that from now government commits to compensating owners of controlled-rent properties, who have been providing social services instead of government." "Specifically we have proposed that from this budget government gives compensation amounting to one-third of the fair value of rent that should be paid. In the absence of now reform this compensation should rise to two-thirds in 2009, and full compensation in 2010. This proposal will commit this government and the next to action this injustice, at least partially. Those thousands of families suffering the injustice are sick and tired of hearing government say that this is an issue that takes time. It takes no time to commit to providing compensation." Chairperson Dr. Harry Vassallo put forward another challenge to government. He said that "the first step in the reform of the rent laws is the decision to abolish the right of inheritance. This action will at least put a timetable on the injustice. However government is not even in a position to commit to this. The opposition neither. In private members of parliament agree with us on this proposal; however none of them are courageous enough to agree in public. There is no legitimate reason why government or opposition should oppose this proposal. Indeed no serious reform can be undertaken if the right to inheritance isn't immediately abolished." Dr. Vassallo concluded saying that "the political impotence on the issue of rent reform will go down in history as a national shame. The two large political parties have played off each other for over sixty years. Government must undo the injustice and undertake to protect needy tenants. Private citizens can no longer be expected to carry the burden of social services. There are no more excuses left for inaction." "Both government and opposition have managed to twist the constitution to serve their electoral interests in a matter of one morning. However they claim impossibility to reform the rent laws after over six decades. Now they will try to convince voters that something will be done after the next election. After six decades of lies, both PN and MLP have lost all credibility on this issue. The only guarantee of a change is for voters to put the Greens in a position of power. We promise that a reform in the rent laws will be a primary condition of any coalition negotiations that we will enter into after the result of the next elections."