I am one of the many who received MIC`s April issue of Crossroads by post.

I tried to read between the lines to find something of interest with clean information about Malta`s bid to join the EU and perhaps, help me form a clearer picture of the obscure one that I am continually being bombarded with.

Being involved in the furniture sector, I could not help noticing that a substantial part of this paper focused on the expected new price levels that the Maltese consumer will have after the removal of levies as of January 1, 2003.

According to these articles, I must say that it is quite impressive to note that furniture prices are going to fall by as much as 40 to 70 per cent of the current levels! If such a situation is true, one can easily conclude that either the local furniture manufacturers are making a very good profit, or they are inefficient beyond imagination - which being in contact on a day-to-day basis with such firms, is far from the truth.

Permit me to bring up a third scenario - the loads of laws, regulations, standards, monopolies, taxes and so on that our SMEs (by EU definition `micro` industry) have to face up to. And yet, our SMEs are being asked to prepare, re-engineer, look forward, restructure, be more efficient, be on the avant-garde and more competitive.

Permit me to make some questions: Now that MIC have been so nice in working out the selling price levels, can it be nice enough to tell us how in real terms industry is going to reduce its operating costs?

Can MIC tell us when the government is going to reduce the burdens it has placed upon the industry? When is the government going to restructure, to be more efficient, to be more accountable?

Wouldn`t it have been a better route to at least try to support industry? Doing next to nothing in supporting the sector and Maltese industry in general is hardly a sensible route by whatever measure.

One last note - MIC should base their deductions on a sound basis as, come January 1, 2003, they might have a surprise.