A Bill amending the Companies Act intends to make it easier for struggling businesses to be restructured, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna told parliament this evening.
Introducing the second reading of the Companies (Amendment) Bill, he said that during the European Presidency, Malta would be proposing a similar directive at a European level.
The minister said that protecting businesses from liquidation was in everybody’s interest, and that these businesses would in many cases have succumbed to unfavourable economic circumstances after years of hard work.
Opposition spokesman Claudio Grech expressed the Opposition’s support for the Bill, adding that the issue of struggling businesses was seldom addressed.
These businesses could be suffering from structural problems, administrative or managerial issues, and a change in external circumstances, but it was often possible for them to be brought back from the brink with expert assistance.
Small businesses in particular tended to suffer from issues of liquidity and cash flow.
Mr Grech emphasised the human consequences of liquidation, and the mental toll that it had on proud business owners who were driven out of business due to a single mistake or circumstances outside their control.
While the Bill took important steps forward in making economic recovery easier, it was also important for the latter consequences to be more extensively addressed.
Shadow minister Mario de Marco stated that the still ongoing controllership dispute of Malta and Europe Hotels Limited, former owners of the Hotel Excelsior, was evidence of the need for improvements in the regulation of such proceedings.
Economy Minister Chris Cardona said that the Bill would help to improve Malta’s international economic and competitiveness ratings.
The debate continues.
The House also started the debate in second reading of the Budget Measures Implementation Bill.
It will meet again on Thursday afternoon to discuss a Private Member’s Bill, presented by Labour MP Godfrey Farrugia to enable those who have reached the age of 16 years to consent or refuse medical attention, care or treatment upon their own individual judgement if the medical practitioner decides that they have sufficient maturity and understanding to take such a decision.