If there is one thing that both major parties do not disagree about, that happens to be the concept of PPPs – private publish partnerships.

Anyone who will bother to re-read our manifesto for 2003 will find out for himself the importance we attached to this important ‘tool’ and mechanism.

If the government is to be blamed for anything it is not for opting for PPPs but rather for moving so slowly towards its full- fledged implementation.

I recall some three or four Easters ago – when I was still the party’s main spokesperson for the economy and finance and I had addressed a local forum on the importance of PPPs together with Minister John Dalli.

If I remember well, the seminar had also been addressed by a senior Finance Ministry official who had written a thesis on the application of such a concept to Malta.

Since then a number of budgets have come and gone, and in spite of the pomposity with which new PPP initiatives were heralded, very little was done by the government during the following financial years except for the landscaping PPP project.

Even Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech’s announcement that a unit would be specifically set up in the Ministry of Finance to cater for PPPs was nothing new, since Minister Dalli had made such an announcement during that seminar four years ago.

Personally, I would have preferred such a unit, established in the OPM, to be able to oversee all ministries – including the Finance Ministry – but given that finance currently falls under the brief of the Prime Minister I do not think that this should be something we should argue about.

Let us hope that there will be more momentum and impetus to the government’s overall approach to this concept.

It was a good idea that the British authorities were asked to help out in the implementation of such an initiative since the UK has considerable experience of PPPs – both those which were successful as well as a couple of failures which cost the taxpayer unnecessary expense.

What is important is that the whole concept of PPPs should be explained in simpler language to the average man in the street, entrepreneur and contractor in order to ensure that rather than having a piecemeal approach to the subject all those potentially interested parties will be made fully aware of the strengths and possible pitfalls of such ventures.

The next step is for the government to pull its socks up and simply get going in the right direction.

It is time to move from sweet talk to direct action, particularly given the financial constraints public finances happen to pose at this juncture.

Probing the Middle East

Last week was an interesting day for all those, like the undersigned, who follow closely developments linked to the Middle East. On Wednesday morning I had an interesting and frank discussion with the very focused spokesperson and media attache’ of the Israeli Embassy in Rome. That same evening, we had the excellent opportunity of being addressed both by the Palestinian Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires as well as the US Embassy Head of Mission during the Foreign and European Affairs committee.

Unfortunately the local media did very little justice to such important meetings. The majority simply did not bother to cover them at all, preferring to cover other parliamentary business while those who did gave a rather unfaithful account of the proceedings by leaving out the most important nuances and highlights touched upon by the various speakers involved.

It is rather ironic that while the FEAC proceedings are streamed live on the internet, the local media does not seem to have the time, will or resources to cover such important meetings.

Although the FEAC has been around for quite some time now, it is only in recent months that its meetings have been so frequent, so well planned in advance and so informative both for us MPs as well as all those who might take a direct interest in foreign affairs.

In my interventions I raised the following questions among others:

In her recent visit to Palestine and Israel, the new US Secretary of State C. Rice did not once refer to the roadmap in any of her public statements and comments. Could this be interpreted as a signal that the US is not going to be so insistent on seeing the parties involved pursue it as a viable plan?

Didn’t our guests agree that high level US involvement and pressure is the only real catalyst that can bring about a situation leading to a two state solution in the Middle East?

Although Europeans and Americans suddenly seem to be pulling in the same direction on the ME, could transatlantic differences become once again acute if the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations stall?

Did not our respected guests consider it to be a very strong risk that if Abu Mazen fails on the Palestinian reforms, or else to get the negotiations going, then he could be jeopardising his leadership position?

How fast will the US process build up Iraq’s own military and security infrastructure?

Other members of the committee posed equally interesting questions. But alas coverage in a particular daily did not reflect such a positive and pro-active approach.

Cyprus’ resilient economy

One thing which struck me – as well as Alfred Sant and Charles Mangion – during our meeting with the Cypriot President at San Anton, was the resilience of the Cypriot economy. Its economic growth figures, unemployment rate and high level of economic activity all suggest that the Cypriot economy is thriving. All this against the background of a far more attractive tax regime than we have.

Not for them the excuses about 9/11, SARS and global recession. It seems that Cyprus is another EU acceding state which joined the Union on the same date as we did and which happens to be performing quite well, while our economy continues to under-perform. Something which after all has been highlighted by the recent Central Bank Quarterly Report.

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Leo Brincat is the Main Opposition Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and IT.