Last-minute consultations with MCESD

Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech yesterday morning met the social partners for last-minute feedback on some of the measures which the government will announce in tomorrow's Budget.

Following a two-hour meeting at the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development in Floriana, Mr Fenech said he had presented "a number of options" to social partners.

"The government has listened to what they had to say," Mr Fenech said, refraining from divulging any details.

The government had been open with the social partners, Mr Fenech told reporters, adding the government was expected to evaluate some of the suggestions which had been made during the meeting.

At 11 a.m., in fact, immediately after the MCESD meeting, Mr Fenech went to the Office of the Prime Minister where the Cabinet and Nationalist MPs had a meeting on the Budget.

Asked if there had been some form of agreement between social partners, Mr Fenech said the MCESD's aim was not to achieve consensus.

"The Budget is ultimately drawn up by the government which takes the final decisions," he said.

Speaking to The Times on Friday, both unions and employers called on the government to give a tax relief in a bid to put money into people's pockets and stimulate the economy, especially given the impact of the new power surcharge.

The government last week announced a 55 per cent surcharge on water and electricity bills and an increase of 3c9 per litre of petrol to cushion the impact of spiralling oil prices.

While unions insist that the surcharge should be factored into the Retail Price Index and therefore reflected in the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), employers claim this would drastically increase their labour costs and inflict a decisive blow to Malta's competitiveness.

According to sources, unions are demanding an extra 50c to Lm1 a week to compensate the increase in fuel prices and the surcharge in addition to the weekly adjustment which is said to be Lm1.75 a week.

Speaking yesterday, MCESD chairman Victor Scicluna said the social partners had agreed to remain tight-lipped till Monday night.

Described the MCESD meeting as "cordial", Mr Scicluna said it did not make sense to announce what had been said during the meeting because there was a risk of "discussing measures which may ultimately not be implemented by the government".