A 'spectacular jump'

Those were the words the European Commission - in a report it commissioned from Cap Gemini - chose to describe Malta's progress in its egovernment programme. There was no ambiguity in attributing credit either.

"The spectacular jump of Malta from the 16th to the 2nd place [among member states and candidate countries] is due to a set of different governmental action in the field of egovernment."

The European bureaucracy is not famed for the generosity of its adjectives. I think it is safe to say that, by any definition, this was well-earned praise. It is with pride that I invite all ministries, officials, departments and employees who worked so hard for this target over the past few years to take a bow.

The European Commission (Online Availability of Public Services: How Is Europe Progressing? Web Based Survey on Electronic Public Services Report of the 6th Measurement, June 2006) lists, through Cap Gemini, the government's achievements in this area which identify us as models for imitation for regions and countries of comparable size. In simple words the report assures all Europeans there is no such thing as too small or too peripheral to succeed in today's world... after all Malta proves this.

What is all this really about? It is about public services that are being delivered more quickly, more comfortably (from the client's point of view) and more cheaply. We are among the very best placed in Europe in terms of the level of service we provide to secure even greater strides over the next few years. Efficient public services are the test of success of any government and, since we do not say so ourselves, we are passing with flying colours.

Efficient public services, provided electronically, are not merely an object of pride of the providers. They free up time for families and businesses to get on with their lives and not waste time and money negotiating their way through Byzantine indifference or outright hostility.

This is what competitiveness is made of. We do not wish to aspire to have lower wages than our competitors. But we can still work hard to become cheaper than they are, cutting down on red tape, and making this country genuinely business-friendly.

Malta "works" and the initiatives of this government - recognised as exceptional by the EU - ensure we continue to accumulate a reputation as the ideal environment to host investment and business activity.

This is not only about the big boys. The smallest business which makes a vital contribution to the economy will be the least able to afford to waste time filling forms in triplicate and queuing behind windows at office hours strategically designed to disrupt his or her activity. Improved public services online all day and night, every day of the year allow your average teacher or retailer or service-provider to do business when previously they would have been stuck in some government department's oppressively slow front office.

This is not only about profit. Government office hours used to assume you could take a day off work to obtain a certificate that merely proves you were born, only to take another day off to file that certificate with another department that will eventually issue you with a document (for which you need another day off to retrieve) that will merely prove that you indeed are who you claim to be.

Government office hours used to assume it was easy for you to travel around and, frankly, it didn't matter if you're disabled, or busy with young children, or somehow indisposed. You had to work around your problems and do it the department's way.

We changed all that.

We have "leapfrogged" our competitors by taking the right decisions, investing wisely in our employees and pursuing our ambitious vision which, for the past six years, Labour has derided as a pipe dream and a waste of time and money.

We are leading the country into the future, transforming it into a model to be followed and imitated by those who the more timid among us thought would overwhelm us when we joined the EU.

We are making "spectacular jumps" forward while Labour just watches and mumbles darkly and unintelligibly. Thank God this country does not depend on their good humour but on our performance.

Dr Gatt is Minister of Public Investments and IT.