We just cannot get enough news about the sheer magnitude of the economic and financial crisis around the globe. Fellow eurozone members Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Greece have unemployment levels and deficit figures rocketing up to unprecedented levels. The Greek government has proposed three rafts of austerity measures to bring down its 13 per cent Budget deficit and its 120 per cent public debt. Its plans include a rise in the retirement age to 67, a pay-freeze, a VAT increase and employing only one for every five civil servants who retire.
Malta, in comparison, has emerged relatively unscathed from this turmoil. This is no coincidence. Sound public finances have allowed the government to target initiatives and take business incentives and this has limited job losses to a minimum. Government schemes have triggered a series of investments by Methode, Trelleborg, Stainless Steel Products, SR Technics, Lufthansa Technik, Farsons and Cardinal Health, to name a few.
The privatisation of the shipyards has plugged a hole that plagued the country's finances for years. Sound finances and a stable currency have sheltered us from a devaluation Labour politicians were proposing only a few years ago. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU. There is certainly room for improvement but, given the circumstances, a low Budget deficit and continuous foreign direct investment should further strengthen our economy and generate more and better jobs.
Regrettably, the opposition has taken the dubious path of populism rather than the healthy path of positive proposals. Despite much talk, if you ask anyone what Labour's proposals are on any given subject you get a blank stare. In the midst of the worst global recession in a century, Labour's only clear policy seems to be on censorship. Even on utility tariffs, Labour talks and protests but proposes nothing, except declaring that it cannot guarantee a reduction of tariffs if it is in power.
On the incontrovertible fact of a doubling of the oil price from $40 to $80 in the last six months, Labour says nothing. On the social cushioning being provided to the vulnerable, Labour has nothing to say. On the schemes to encourage energy conservation, Labour is mum. On the incentives to encourage alternative sources of energy even at household level, Labour is silent.
The only thing that seems to excite Labour nowadays is the prospect of hosting meetings and delegations in Malta when we have the presidency of the EU in seven years' time. But this sounds more like an ego-trip rather than a programme for hard-working Maltese families to maximise the benefits of EU membership Labour so vehemently opposed seven years ago.
That is one reason of many why Labour does not deserve to host an EU presidency it argued we should and would never have.
Joseph Muscat personally tried to convince us, in his now notorious Made In Brussels series, what he was also telling Icelanders not to do. Luckily for us, we did not heed his advice while Iceland now shows just how wrong Dr Muscat was seven years ago and how incomprehensible it is now for him to mention Malta's EU presidency seven years hence.
What the Maltese public is interested in is not the prospect of ego-inflating dinner-parties and photo-opportunities. We are interested in the whys and wherefores of barely being touched by the deepest global recession since the crash of 1929 and a healthy debate about the measures being taken. We are ultimately interested in alternative proposals to keep MV Malta on an even keel and prepared to ride the waves when global economic growth returns.
ryancallus@gmail.com