Prosperity and employment

In spite of what may be claimed by some, like the Leader of the Opposition, we have an Administration dead set on saving jobs and, more importantly, creating new ones. The bleak reality is that Malta is managing to buffer the impact of the recession better than other countries of enviable economic strength. We are now told how Malta was the EU's best performer in employment between January and March, registering growth despite the adverse impact of the global recession.

It is rather worrying to see how only four countries among EU members did not see a deterioration in employment. These countries are Slovenia, Belgium, Germany and Malta. All other eurozone members were down, with countries like Spain experiencing drops to the tune of a worrying 6.4 per cent. When compared to the same quarter last year we managed an increase of 1.8 per cent in employment levels and this all in the midst of the current financial turmoil.

These results are no surprise. The government has renewed its vows in protecting and safeguarding jobs while creating further and better job opportunities time and again. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has responsibly upheld that job creation ranks as the government's highest priority many a time. The lasting efforts of the government to gear its investment towards job creation is working and showing results.

We have experienced investments such as Lufthansa Technik, SmartCity, a number of pharmaceutical companies and the ever-thriving financial services sector. Malta is also battling against the international economic recession and its perseverance is undoubtedly solidified thanks to our entry into the eurozone, which has rendered Malta competitive with other member states throughout this difficult phase.

Now, if we were to set the recession aside for a moment, we still need to realise we are faced with a future of increased global competition, an ageing society, continuous technological development and environmental challenges. The EU is reinforcing its policies to increase individuals' adaptability, promote enterprise in areas affected by economic change and assist regions in anticipating restructuring. With a wide range of EU measures to limit the negative social consequences to workers, the EU is surely responding to economic change within the employment sector.

And this brings me neatly onto the Lisbon Strategy. Generating the economic growth to fund the European social model, the life-long learning required in a knowledge economy and the scientific breakthroughs and innovation to go with it are all part of what is known as the Lisbon Strategy.

This is basically a strategy aimed at creating jobs and growth by boosting our knowledge, making EU businesses more innovative and ensuring they remain competitive. It also concerns investing in people and, at the same time, not losing sight of the fact that growth must be sustainable. This means attracting more people into employment, keeping people in work longer as life expectancy rises, improving the adaptability of workers and enterprises, providing better education and skills and adapting social protection systems to the challenges of innovation, globalisation and mobility.

What we must always place at the forefront, however, is our investment in human resources. Investing in people is crucial to the jobs and growth strategy. The European Social Fund, of which I have been the EPP's negotiator, is the main instrument for this. It is spending €77 billion between 2007 and 2013 to improve access to employment, increase the adaptability of workers and enterprises.

Having touched on this issue in a European dimension, I would like to refer back to Malta. This Administration has a proven track record of job protection and creation with the sole target of retaining Malta's competitiveness.

It was indeed interesting to hear the European Commissioner for Employment, Vladimir Spidla explain how the impact of the recession was limited in Malta. He deduced that this was bolstered by the bold actions of the government to act fast to protect jobs. He went on to say that social dialogue is key to finding solutions to this recession. I cannot but agree and I will be following these issues in the committee dealing with social policy in the European Parliament.

Only if we manage to reach a high level of employment will we be able to safeguard prosperity for everyone and assure the future of our social security systems in the context of demographic change. The top requirement is investment in human capital in order to establish a well-trained and highly-motivated work force.

And having started off this article with the mention of the Leader of the Opposition, I believe it is only fair that I conclude with him. Joseph Muscat hovers above the rising protectionist sentiment within the Labour Party that this government is not concerned and delivering in employment. Well, the results are there for everyone to see. The electoral campaign was based on jobs and, despite Dr Muscat's scaremongering, our cause and clean campaign have been vindicated by these statistics.

Mr Casa is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.