Kurt Sansone
Squabble over Commission's report
The European Commission's report on public finances elicited two different interpretations yesterday with the opposition saying it justified their criticism and the government insisting it confirmed its good management of state funds.
Opposition spokesman Charles Mangion said the Commission's report raised doubts over the government's deficit target of 1.5 per cent for 2009 and its projected GDP growth of 2.2 per cent.
He insisted the Commission justified the criticism the opposition had been levelling at the government for its lack of diligence in the management of public funds because of a pre-electoral spending spree. Finance Minister Tonio Fenech was quick to react saying the Commission stopped short of starting formal excessive deficit procedures against Malta since it deemed the government's consolidation of public finances to be on track.
Mr Fenech did not dispute the Commission's prediction that economic growth for 2009 is going to be 0.7 per cent instead of 2.2 per cent but pointed out that Malta is still slated to be one of the few countries in the EU to register growth.
The two sides were reacting to the European Commission's analysis of the government's budgetary plans up to 2011 released this week.
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L..Galea
Feb 21st 2009, 21:52
michael seychell
I did not have to believe the eu statistics or not, because the Minister himself did not dispute the Commission statistics, thereby admitting that they were correct and at the same time admitting that the government statistics were not correct.
This means either that the government was misleading the people but was caught by the commission or the government did not know how to calculate the figures.
As for blinkered eyes, have you ever heard the expression "Look who's talking"?
michael seychell
Feb 21st 2009, 16:05
to l.galea Can you decide whether EU statistics and reports can be trusted or not.
In this case you are in heaven because your Party is interpreting the report as being a negative report. On the other hand you shout your mouth when there is a positive report on Malta's performance, ansd claim that the report is biased or flawed!.
This applies also to all those who jot down down their with blinkered eyes.
Michael Seychell
Pieta
Charles Cardona
Feb 21st 2009, 14:56
please can we have ?
THE TRUTH THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH ?
L..Galea
Feb 21st 2009, 10:22
"Mr Fenech did not dispute the Commission's prediction that economic growth for 2009 is going to be 0.7 per cent instead of 2.2 per cent but pointed out that Malta is still slated to be one of the few countries in the EU to register growth."
Isn't this a confirmation and admission that the commission figures are correct?
Simply being optimistic to try to spread the feel-good factor will still not prevent the truth from coming out in the end.
As we say, iż-żejt dejjem jitla f'wiċċ l-ilma.