Where did the 130 million euros Enemalta used to pay government come from, PN MP Tonio Fenech asked in Parliament today.

"The European Commission said that the 2015 budget has a non-compliance risk and the government must seriously think about the goals it wishes to achieve next year. In a panic, the government sent the Deputy Prime Minister and announced that Enemalta paid the €130 million it owed government. What they did not say is that the money came out of nowhere. How did Enemalta find this money when it is going through financial trouble?," the PN MP asked.

Speaking during the debate on the financial estimates of the Finance Ministry, Mr Fenech said some money came from Enemed, the new government company, that borrowed money, "but the rest came out of nowhere. I think it came from a bridge-loan, where government probably said that money would soon come in through the agreement with the Chinese. This money came from bank loans".

The PN MP listed a number of government shortfalls and stated that next year’s budget will be between €30-€40 million off track.

The Minister argued that the country’s deficit will increase, and so would its debt. “How do you intend to reach the 62% of GDP national debt?” he asked.

"According to official EU statistics, when looking at the tax burden, it kept on rising. The tax burden will not rise, the government had said, but official statistics show that it rose by 1%, resulting in €170 euros increase per person."

According to figures, the MP said, government expenditure targets were missed by €226 million in 2014, which included a €2.6 million increase in wages for the Office of the Prime Minister.

PN MP Tonio Fenech said that when looking at the financial estimates of the budget; "the first indicators show that contrary to what the government said is on track, is not on track"

"When Alfred Sant was Prime Minister for Finance, debt was rising by €25 million per month. National debt per month in 2013 amounted to €22 million per month in 2013 and €39 million per month this year thus far".

Looking at the supplementary estimates, he said that "we spent €1.6 million in preparation for CHOGM. We had seen nothing for this estimated in previous budget but I believe the Prime Minister knew he was going to host it. He said that since the 2013 election, "4,400 more workers have been hired by the government. With the replacement rate report sent to the EU show that for every three health workers who leave the government would only hire 1".  

“The government is increasing subsidies to Enemalta by €14 million. The Prime Minister argued it is because of an EU obligation. Minister Mizzi originally said it had something to do with accounting in Enemalta”.

He read from EU legislation, stating that a regulatory framework is an obligation, not a subsidy and gives a number of possible measures a government can take. It says that “’these measures could be supplemented by other non-discriminatory instruments such as capacity payments’, meaning that this is not an obligation but a possibility once all other measures have been considered,” he said.

“The price of petrol is currently €0.28 higher and diesel €0.27 higher, per litre, than it should be”.

Taxes on cement and licences have risen, as well as those for insurance etc. “Companies and businesses require quite a bit of insurance Minister,” he said questioning the government’s business friendly strategy.

Discussing the NSO, the PN MP spoke about the situation between the Finance Minister and the head of the NSO. “The Minister had said: ‘we need to be careful and not make the mistake Greece made, and mess with statistics’, yet now you are arguing about the statistics. Obviously, now you are removing the Director General to place ‘your’ people so that you can be happy. Minister practice what you preach. You are supposed to defend the NSO not change the man in charge or argue against EU statistics. Don’t play this type of game. The Prime Minister says that the Opposition leader attacked the judiciary, yet he was not scandalised by his Minister who attacked the NSO." 

Debt up by 600 million

PN MP Antoine Borg described the budget as “one that raises taxes”. “Wherever you look in this budget, it shows that expenses for Ministries will increase. This Minister says these are superficial increases however they in fact show the opposite”.

“To be fair a 25% income tax reduction will occur, as part of a commitment the PN government had made three years ago. The government was lucky that it released its budget before the EU opinion was made".

He said that “we had the lowest COLA increase in a long time". The government is offering money to those in need, however those benefiting from the income tax will not receive this, he said.

He spoke about those on social security, mentioning that it hurt him that the government tried to describe these as criminals. “Those who go to work need a car, so then they will be taxed on punctures, licences and higher fuel. Those who use the bus will be kept in traffic”.

National debt increased, from April 2013 to June to 2014, by 600 million euros, he claimed. This is a consequence of a Minister who has no control on government or on himself.

“The government’s recurrent expenditure does not equal the recurrent income, and is a strain on the Maltese economy and the Maltese families”. The government’s message of allowing people to do what they want is wrong, he said.

"The EU is telling the government its predictions are over-optimistic. National debt will hit over 70% of what this country makes".

PN MP Robert Arrigo posed the question as to whether Enemalta would actually be sold or not given recent events. He asked in Parliament whether it was true that the government was buying Selmun Palace back from Air Malta for €15 million.

Government won’t admit where they are going wrong

“We have a government that won’t admit where they are going wrong, and thus ended up fighting with the NSO,” PN MP Kristy Debono said.

She spoke about the budget’s section on bureaucracy reduction. “The World Economic Forum says bureaucracy is our largest obstacle to attracting foreign investment. I await government to show us the measures it has taken to tackle this, department by department. I would also like to ask how government calculated how this bureaucratic reduction.

She mentioned VAT registration for small businesses. “Through this budget, the government has turned back the clock and increased bureaucracy for small businesses in this respect”.

“We have always been pioneers in the IT sector, however we are now falling behind”.

“This budget mentions nothing about the Manufacturing sector that affects 12,000 families”, she said.

“In a four hour budget, not a single minute was dedicated to any new sectors that the government is trying to attract to Malta,” she said

“I am happy that the government is considering the Islamic Banking concept, which could help attract Islamic investment to Malta”.

“Regarding pensions, the EU said it was worried about the pension plan in Malta. It will have a negligible impact.  The minister could have sat down to find consensus on how to address the second pillar, but sadly the government included a minor measure which will have a minor impact”.