The report of credit rating agency Standards and Poor (S&P) was not a mere slap but a straight punch in the face for the government, TV presenter John Bundy said during a public discussion held in San Gwann this evening.

The TV presenter was comparing S&P’s report with the government’s statistics claiming job generation, record breaking numbers in tourism and the successful escape of Malta from the EU’s Excessive Deficit Zone.

In his reaction PL spokesperson Karmenu Vella replied that the government would have been right to celebrate if he had never entered the Excessive Deficit Zone and not be jubilant because Malta didn’t remain there. “Receiving a prison sentence and celebrating the termination of imprisonment doesn’t mean you’ve been a good citizen,” the labour MP said, “if you were a good citizen you wouldn’t have gone to prison in the first place.”

Deputy Leader Louis Grech held that he cannot understand why the government claims that the opposition’s vote against the budget bill was an irresponsible move. “The PL has been wise and responsible enough to acknowledge the good points in the budget and pledge to implement it if the people entrust the country to the Party,” the Deputy Leader said. "The PN should never have let us get to this stage".

Financial guru Alfred Mifsud expressed that it wasn't Malta that S&P was criticising, but rather it was the government. 

Alert managing director and columnist Claudine Cassar said; “All the political parties in Malta have their own people who are highly intelligent. The mentality of ‘tribal’ politics, us and them, blue, red, had to come to an end and the country needs to unite once and for all".