In the declaration attached to Malta's Accession Treaty to the European Union on the "island region of Gozo", it was declared that "before the end of each Community budgetary period entailing a redefinition of the Community regional policy, Malta will request that the Commission report to the Council on the economic and social situation of Gozo and, in particular, on the disparities in the social and economic development levels between Gozo and Malta.
"The Commission would be asked to propose appropriate measures, as required, in the framework of the Community regional policy or other relevant Community policies, to ensure the continuation of the reduction of disparities between Gozo and Malta as well as the further integration of Gozo into the internal market on fair conditions.
"In particular, in the event that Malta, as a whole, would no longer be eligible to certain measures of the regional policy, the report would assess whether the specific economic situation of Gozo justifies a continued eligibility of Gozo to those measures, and under which conditions, during the reference period."
As a result of this declaration, Gozo would be considered as a separate region from Malta for statistical purposes - nuts (Nomenclature of Territorial Statistical Units) - classification according to which regions are grouped.
The nuts classification determines the territorial level at which statistics are collected. In turn, statistics have an impact on policymaking affecting that territory, both at EU and national level.
This declaration came into effect on May 1. But has the Government set in motion the machinery to start compiling separate statistical data for Gozo? This commentator doubts it seriously and this doubt has been indirectly confirmed in Parliament by the Prime Minister himself last December 4.
Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi asked Dr Lawrence Gonzi about the revenue collected from VAT in Gozo during 2002 and 2003. The Prime Minister replied that revenue from Gozo as a percentage of total VAT revenue reached 0.96% in 2000; 1.02% in 200l; 0.90% in 2002; and 0.92% in 2003. The revenue percentage climbed to 1.26% in the first eight months of 2004. Nothing can be further from the truth.
This answer immediately brought to mind the famous saying attributed to Hollaway Halsted Frost (1889-1935), a US Commander, that "there are three kinds of lies - lies, damnable lies, and statistics".
This answer did not take into consideration a very simple fact. Entities registered in Malta but collecting VAT revenue from Gozo actually report the revenue under a Malta address. This is the case of all commercial banks, Maltacom, Vodafone, Melita Cable, Enemalta and all major providers of nationwide services. All VAT collected by these entities is shown as collected in Malta.
The fact that this answer did not take this into consideration shows that more than eight months after Malta's accession to the EU, there is little or no willingness on the part of Government and non-government entities to implement the measure of separate statistical data. Victor Galea, AD Gozo regional spokesman, is of the same opinion.
Professor Lino Briguglio, who has been in charge of the University of Malta's Gozo section since its inception, has been harping on this point for years. Long before Malta's accession, he repeated ad nauseam that if the statistical basis to gauge the island's economic performance is wanting, it is not possible to plot and plan the economic growth of Gozo.
Worse, as Dr Simon Busuttil, MEP, affirmed recently during a talk in Gozo, without reliable statistics Gozo will not be able to benefit from EU funds. It is the hope of well-meaning Gozitans that the problem of reliable statistics vis-à-vis Gozo be tackled seriously without further delay.