In a television interview in 1990, the American Republican politician Phil Gram summed up in two sentences how difficult it is for a government to come up with a budget that is pleasing to the people and yet provides a solution to the country’s problems. “Balancing the budget is like going to Heaven. Everybody wants to do it, but nobody wants to do what you have to do to get there,” said Mr Gram. The American politician may have had the US Congress in mind, but his words can be applied to any government in any country, tiny Malta included.

In a few weeks, Dr Lawrence Gonzi, donning the finance minister’s cap, will present to the people his government’s budget for 2006. Over the past few weeks, a series of consultation meetings have been organised by the ministry to test the water and see what the people are saying at ground level.

At the same time, the social partners and consolidated bodies have been presenting their views on the government’s pre-budget document For a better quality of life and, at the same time, suggest, demand and beg the government of the day to heed their counsel and introduce what they believe to be the Holy Grail, the ultimate solution to the country’s problems.

In the shadows, the Labour Party is biding its time before it can, as happens every year, tear the government’s plans for 2006 to shreds. Every year, it is the same old story, the same rhetoric and, unfortunately for the taxpayers, more of the same – another sugar coated pill.

This in essence describes the budget process from outside the walls of Castille. What goes on inside will be revealed when Dr Gonzi stands up and gives us his budget speech, each word carefully weighed and measured, each negative measure balanced with another positive incentive.

The budget is nothing but a balancing act between what the government believes is needed to keep the economy ticking over and what will keep the votes coming in at the next election. That is all. The budget will not provide the necessary balance to solve all the country’s problems: it will not reduce the deficit to three per cent of GDP; it will not cut down public debt to a manageable size; it will not create thousands of jobs; it will not solve the pensions problem; it will not revive the tourism industry.

The budget will only scratch the surface and offer temporary solutions to Malta’s problems. Not because Dr Gonzi’s government lacks the will to bring about change in the country – the government may not be firing on all pistons, but it is trying to do something. Yet the balance to which Mr Gram is referring can only be achieved when the social partners and consolidated bodies do what they have to do for Malta to get there.

Simply put, they have to take those decisions that have been postponed for years. It is all well and good to hold a press conference or issue a press release to say what the government should and should not do in the budget.

In our opinion, they are just paying lip service to a tradition. If the social partners really want the government to accept their proposals, they have to do their part and convince their members that the budget will only work if they take the long hard path to economic recovery.

If the social partners and consolidated bodies had reached agreement on a social pact last year, this year’s budget would be all the more interesting. What we can expect, however, is another government attempt at solving the country’s problems; an opposition that will find every reason to criticise everything the government says; and a civil society that sits and sulks because its demands and proposals have not been given a second thought by the

government.

In the meantime, the Joe Borgs of this country will continue to sweat it out, pay more taxes and hope for the best. Malta will not be going to Heaven any time soon!