The shadow minister for civil liberties, Claudette Buttigieg, said the public described the Budget as positive mainly because of lower utility bills but they could hardly elaborate because it was full of half-truths.
While Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said the Government wanted to strengthen and increase citizens’ rights and boost social dialogue, an in-depth look at the Budget estimates indicated a different truth.
Focusing on the Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties in particular, Ms Buttigieg said Prof. Scicluna had promised the Government would help boost social dialogue in MCESD and other fora. How could this be when one was cutting their budget?
The National Commission for the Promotion of Equality had also seen a budget cut of €60,000 and this when Prof. Scicluna had said human rights had to be given more importance and the NCPE should have its scope broadened. Unfortunately, she said, the Citizenship Bill was more important for the Government.
Concluding, she said the country needed a vision and genuine social dialogue. Hopefully, the Government would soon acknowledge this need.
Paula Mifsud Bonnici (PN) said the budget for the Consumer Appeals Tribunal was reduced from €60,000 to €44,000 and this would impinge on its functionality.
Referring to the health sector, she said that, over the past eight months, the Government failed to lower medicinal prices but, instead, it succeeded in increasing the list of out-of-stock medicine.
Chris Said (PN) noted that the unemployment rate was up 13 per cent in the last three months and this was an unusual increase for the summer period.
The Government had promised to strengthen social dialogue but this was hardly the case. Similarly, it had promised to eliminate precarious work but apparently nothing had been done to conclude tenders with contractors found guilty of such work practices. The Government also promised to strengthen industrial relations but no money was allocated for such a purpose.
Dr Said recalled that in April the House voted for €900,000 to be made available to Meusac. Yet, the minister of finance cut this amount to €800,000 last June and then to €700,000. The previous government had signed a deal with the European Commission for an extra €1 million in financial aid over four years. What had happened to this agreement?
Similar reductions had also been made with regard to the co-financing agreement to help local councils and NGOs acquire funds. The budget for local councils was cut to €275,000 and that of NGOs to €185,000. No money was allocated for building in Valletta to house NGO offices.
The fund intended for private entities working with various vulnerable groups in liaison with the government shrunk from €3 million to €2 million, the MP said.