The Labour Party is concerned over the way how the government is raising costs for businesses, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said at a meeting with the GRTU this afternoon.

He said the government had raised the surcharge steeply without first carrying out a socio-economic impact assessment. According to the Prime Minister, the assessment was being done now, which, Dr Muscat said, was certainly not the way to do things.

Dr Muscat insisted that the increase in international oil prices was not unexpected, and it, therefore, could not be used as an excuse for the government to back pedal on its election promises.

He expressed concern that over the past 10 years Malta saw the second highest increase in the tax burden in the EU.

Dr Muscat said the promised cuts in harbour costs had not come about, certainly not to the levels which the government had promised.

The MLP, he said, agreed with liberalisation which translated into better services and lower costs for consumers. The government should, however, explain, as of now, how it would ensure that the agreement reached with the owners of hearses would yield benefits for consumers. It would make no sense for a small monopoly to be turned into a slightly bigger one.

The Labour leader accused the government of dragging its feet on the new system of vehicle registration and said he hoped the changes would benefit consumers and the environment.

GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia said the ports reform had not worked because there was no commitment for matters to succeed. On the surcharge, he said it was discriminatory against SMEs.

He reiterated the GRTU position that a reform of commercial rents should be discussed separately from the current rent reform, and only after more detailed study.