Hard times

In the euphoria following the last general election victory, the Nationalist Party leaders and media started promising all of us a new spring. The new reality of joining the European Union decided by a slim majority last April was considered so magical as to suspend the laws of nature. The four seasons were to be banished from Malta: no more suffocating hot summers; no more wet and frosty winters; no more damp and sticky autumns.

Perpetual spring was to break and bloom sweetly and gently in Malta and Gozo. The economy would flourish and grow. Investment, money and jobs would flow abundantly. Political incompetence and corruption would disappear following the healing touch with Brussels. We would become among the best countries in the world and reach top European standards in environmental protection, roads, health care, education, working conditions and the quality of life.

Democratic, fair and accountable governance would be guaranteed. Finance Minister John Dalli promised such a blissful, everlasting spring to us just a year ago in his psalmodic conclusion when he presented the Budget.

This year his Budget speech contained no such verbal flurry. Pre-election poetry gave way to post-election prose. There was no mention of any new spring. We were only told "new times are ahead" and from what we can already see they are going to be hard times, very hard times indeed, especially for those who are vulnerable in our society.

Take our senior citizens who built this nation with sheer hard work and determination. Those who are residing in homes for the elderly will now have to fork out 80 per cent of their pension. The state cannot sustain their care. Many pensioners living at home will find it more difficult to make ends meet.

After years of running the country on a "money no problem" mindset, the Nationalist government is now having to bleed taxpayers dry. One of the biggest public expenditures has become public debt servicing: Lm85 million a year - much more than we spend on primary and secondary education; much more than we spend on primary health care; much more than we spend on our elderly.

No wonder that in Monday's budget Government increased taxes by more than Lm59 million but at the same time cut spending on the national minimum curriculum and teachers' training, and announced that in the coming months welfare benefits and health care costs will be scrutinised closely to "rationalise", that is cut, them further.

None of the painful measures announced last Monday were ever mentioned during the referendum and general election campaigns of a few months ago. We were assured that public finances were on a sound footing. Economic prospects were looking up. The structural deficit and public debt were under control. Taxes would be lowered.

This propaganda now reveals itself to be worse than a phantom pregnancy. Not only do these electoral promises remain undelivered. Not only have they been aborted. They have given birth to something completely opposite: higher taxes and a lower quality of life.

The Nationalist government has unleashed three deadly fighters to wreak havoc on the lives of our citizens: unemployment, taxes and public debt. During the election campaign the Nationalist Party promised the creation of thousands of new jobs. In 1998 Dr Fenech Adami as leader of the Opposition had said that having 7,000 unemployed is indeed disturbing and alarming. We have now 8,249 persons unemployed. In the last year unemployment in Malta increased by 6% and by 18% in Gozo.

Forty-five per cent of those without a job are under 30. In the last year we have seen youth unemployment increase by 7% in Malta and by 24% in Gozo where 55% of unemployed are under 30.

A new way forward

Since the last general election at least 12 companies have sacked hundreds of workers. A number of factories and hotels have closed down as the country has lost competitiveness in manufacturing and tourism. Instead of addressing this problem in a serious manner, government dismisses it arrogantly as simply "a fact of life".

Monday's budget not only kills Government's slogan of "a new spring" but offers no new hope of some kind of economic recovery. Buzzwords are not enough to make us survive and thrive in today's fiercely competitive world. Our tired and aging economy needs fresh investment, new skills and innovation.

The 2004 budget does not address the gravity of the current and future economic situation. There are no measures that will stop the country's slide into deeper economic problems. All indications are that as the burden of taxation increases private debt will continue to grow, private savings will keep on declining and the main sectors of the economy will stagnate and shrink even further. The wealth of many families risks being wiped out and more people will face hardship and find it more difficult to make ends meet.

Just a few months after the general elections many people feel that the country needs a new sense of direction that only a new government will deliver. In such a situation the Labour Party has to show the way forward, put pressure on the government to reverse the situation and create conditions for new economic growth, new productive jobs in the private sector, a reduction in the ratio of government debt to GDP, improved public services and a better quality of life and a prosperous future for our families and pensioners.

It is up to the Labour Party to show the way forward and work on an economic plan that will create the conditions for future economic growth to enable this country to survive and thrive in the years ahead.

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com