Malta has been a member of the European Union for almost nine years now and, yet, many Maltese feel that in some areas very little has changed.
Unless we eradicate the tribal mentality we will never succeed
The vast majority voted in favour of the EU, among other things, because they wanted high standards to be introduced in products, services, healthcare, education and the environment. They also wanted enacted laws to be observed and, above all, a better standard of living. They expected good governance from the party in power to ensure that our limited financial and human resources are used to their best potential.
While Malta has benefited from a generous financial package from the EU, our public debt has continued to increase, reaching a staggering 75 per cent of GDP.
If one were to take into account the debt and the government guarantees given to public entities and corporations this would be much higher. We should be thankful to our financial system, particularly the banks that have a healthy balance sheet and were not exposed to the toxic assets of the US sub-prime market that has affected banks in America and, particularly, Europe.
Some governments in the EU such as those of Spain, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus collapsed because, among other things, they already had a high public debt and could not afford to bail out their banks at the same time.
This clearly demonstrates that our public debt needs to be brought down to a sustainable level and this can only be achieved by having a Budget surplus over a number of years without giving a shock to the economy. To achieve this, the economy needs to grow at a faster pace so that government revenue increases from the present tax regime and not from new taxes that could stifle the economy.
It is therefore of paramount importance that the challenge in the energy sector is taken in earnest so that industry, consumers and the economy in general start to benefit from a much needed cut in the water and electricity tariffs.
Industry and tourism are two main pillars of our economy; a reduction in their cost structures is not only needed for them to remain competitive and invest but also to be able to reward their employees for their contribution.
Moreover, for health reasons alone, the change from fuel to gas should have happened a long time ago. We have wasted too much time debating this issue with some arguments against verging on the absurd.
When it comes to human resources one cannot say that we have adopted a meritocracy approach when appointing people to the boards of government entities and other senior positions. Unfortunately, in some government departments, this trend has also reached even very low positions. This is highly demotivating for anyone, whether coming from a Labour-leaning family or a Nationalist one, to find out that a certain appointment or promotion was awarded on the basis of a simple interview, the classical smokescreen, while all other important criteria, such as qualifications, skills and experience, were simply ignored.
Our democratic standards need updating too.
The Prime Minister of Bulgaria, a country that only a few years ago was under a communist regime, resigned and took political responsibility after the people took to the streets against the harsh austerity measures that his government wanted to implement.
This is the good governance that many people in Malta are yearning for. Unless we become one nation and one people and eradicate once and for all the tribal mentality we will never succeed in the EU and the globalised world.
Victor Carachi is president of the General Workers’ Union.