Chamber advises caution on pledges
Lawrence Gonzi with Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, Stefano Mallia, at a meeting last night. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi
The vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, Stefano Mallia, has warned the political parties against making unsustainable promises in their electoral programmes.
In a dialogue meeting with the Prime Minister in Valletta yesterday evening, to which the press was only invited for the introductory remarks, Mr Mallia said the chamber did not wish to take a position on the proposals being made in the campaign.
However, it wanted to “express its concerns over the sustainability of certain proposals being made by both political parties”.
He did not give specific examples of the proposed measures he was referring to.
The Prime Minister was received at the chamber’s premises by Mr Mallia in the absence of chamber president Tancred Tabone, who could not attend the meeting as he was indisposed.
In his introductory remarks to the chamber’s members, the Prime Minister said the Nationalist Party in government would once again be committed to strengthening the country’s finances, as it had already done over the course of the cur-rent legislature.
“I want to put your minds at rest that we are only proposing realistic measures. We are not going to put the country’s finances in jeopardy in any way and that is why we have priced each and every measure in our electoral programme,” he said.
Making it clear that not all of the PN’s measures might sound good for employers, Dr Gonzi said they were all aimed at achieving economic growth and job creation.
He said that apart from more investment being made in crucial economic and social areas, such as education and health, the PN was committed to a government spending haircut of two per cent, following a similar exercise two years ago that had cut costs by about €40 million.
The Government was also predicting that the European economy would improve over the next five years and was optimistic that the local economy would grow at a higher rate.
The meeting continued behind closed doors where members discussed their problems and proposals with the Prime Minister.
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GL Calleja
Jan 30th, 17:03
" I want to put your minds at rest that we are only proposing realistic measures ". Who said that? I always say, believe none of what you hear and only believe half of what you see, especially during an election year.
Mario Scicluna
Jan 30th, 15:20
'warns Parties against making unsustainable promises in their electoral programmes'. Isn't this the same Stefano Mallia, renowned PN activist , who was also an aide de camp in MEP Simon Busuttil’s team? Where was he during all the uncertainty ? Did Mr. Mallia ever refer to various Ministers that failed to deliver and eluded accountability towards the electorate? Power of incumbency Stefano?
Joe Grech
Jan 30th, 12:08
''The meeting continued behind closed doors where members discussed their problems and proposals with the Prime Minister''
Behing closed doors....How's that for Transparency, Mr. P.M.?
Incredulous...the way the PN is going all out for Votes. And ex President Dr. Fenech Adami thinks this is a clean election campaign. Unbelievable.
Joe Grech
Jan 30th, 12:02
''the Prime Minister said the Nationalist Party in government would once again be committed to strengthening the country’s finances, as it had already done over the course of the current legislature.'' -
This man must be DREAMING....
Money going down the drain uselessly, the National Debt ballooning, incompetent collection of Vat, etc....and Lawrence comes out with the howler above!
Lawrence Fenech
Jan 30th, 09:31
Chamber you are 5 years too late with this remark. I suggest you go over Gonzi's pledges prior to the last general elections you will find quite a few gaps.
Pippo de Marco
Jan 30th, 00:08
The Chamber appears to be telling the PM, in diplomatic language, that he cannot deliver what he is promising. - But then the only people who don't realise that are Dr Gonzi, Tonio Fenech and those who don't know the first thing about global economics.
Joseph E Briffa
Jan 30th, 10:39
PN has shown they can deliver and their proposals are not pie in the sky.Proof of this is the very good performance of the economy during the last 5 years.Malta did very well, while other countries experienced shrinkage of the economy or zero growth, high jobless rates, salary and pension cuts.One should judge by actual performance, not by pre-election promises. Words are cheap for the opposition
Pippo de Marco
Jan 30th, 11:57
Joseph,
Look carefully. I did not state or suggest that PL could deliver its own promises. I did my own assessment of PL's plan, which assumes continuing growth of 2.3 - 3.6% that I believe is unrealistic and overly optimistic. However, I do foresee tax rises when targets are missed. Most likely in VAT.
Pippo de Marco
Jan 30th, 11:59
Correction to my last comment...
I did of course mean PN's plan, not PL's, which is even less likely to deliver what it promises.
Francis Sammut
Jan 29th, 22:06
Realistic measures the man said! Like for instance the proposed 500 pay increase for Cabinet members? Was that realistic, Mr. Prime Minister?
Please choose the reason of your report below: