Judging by the flak it's been receiving, the pre-budget document has not gone down very well with the public. Given that the purpose of such an exercise is precisely to try to tickle the public's interest so as to get as much feedback as can be, that could be considered a bad failure.
Is it, and if so, why? The main criticism has been that the document is too technical. It is long on theory and statistics, but short on ideas, or at least on ways and means of spurring the public to think hard and produce proposals.
The shadow minister of finance has been harsh on the government's approach - albeit without going overboard in language terms, something which he never does, anyway. He declared that the pre-budget document was no Book of Revelations.
That, it certainly is not. One might ask the question, however, whether it is meant to be so. If the government of the day has any revelations to make, it surely does so on budget day, especially with regard to its fiscal policy.
The real point, I think, is that the government should at all times reveal its intentions regarding the nature and direction of policies it will be implementing over time, both in terms of strategic needs, as well as in regard to tactical considerations.
There should be no space for revelations, but a huge area for proactive thinking. The strategic direction of the government, and of the next two which will come after, speaks for itself. There has to be careful implementation of a well-prepared energy policy. Whether such a policy exists in the right sense and dimensions is being placed in grave doubt among other things by Labour MP Evarist Bartolo with his revelations - the word is appropriate here - about the next phase of development of the Delimara power station.
The Prime Minister has so far ignored what Mr Bartolo has been digging up. He has evidently left it to the responsible minister, Dr Austin Gatt, to deal with. That is reasonable in the normal run of events. But not at all so when the revelations translate into grave accusations. There are two clear implications to Evarist Bartolo's persistent thrust - that Enemalta's tendering process may have not been as pure as the driven snow, and that the corporation might be in the process of prejudicing Malta's future by investing in the wrong technology.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is simply not justified to keep his lips pursed over the issue, not when the material and data produced by Mr Bartolo raise so much doubt as to whether Enemalta, and by association its minister, are on the right track.
Further strategy for this and the next two governments lies in upgrading the infrastructure. That part which starts with the road network should be completed by this and next administration. The one following will have to implement renewals of roads last seen to at the beginning of the long Nationalist Administration in 1987.
The government's own infrastructure will also need renewal. In the process the government should be withdrawing further from the economy and seeing to it that proper regulation is set up at arm's length. Simultaneously, there will have to be a redefinition of the policies used to promote Malta as an investment centre. We have been and, notwithstanding the recession continue to be, successful in the financial services sector.
In the coming years, the people who made that possible will have retired. The governments of the day must ensure that there are able successors if the feat is to be repeated. They will also have to review policies once it is certain that global conditions will change. The gaming industry, for example, may have flown towards other climates.
Handling of climate change will be another strategic issue for this and future governments. All of the issues will automatically be related to generating growth and jobs, plus maintaining and increasing social cohesion.
In the shorter term, there are the effects of the 2008/09 recession to address. That is where the pre-budget document should have done more to stimulate fresh thinking, such as what to do to instil a learning culture in our society. The quality and direction of our education system as may be relevant to the future requires careful planning.
More immediately and in parallel fresh ways and means have to be found to persuade a substantial part of our work force that they must upgrade their capabilities.
One leaves it to the Ministry of Finance to reflect on the above, which is only the tip of what needs to be done in terms of medium and longer-term planning, and to determine whether the pre-Budget document fits in well with it. There is time between now and budget day to come up with a supplement to the pre-budget document which will be less technical in expression and more focused in thought.