When Prime Minister Gonzi exchanged New Year greetings with members of the diplomatic corps on 12 January, he had some ringing words about the government’s primary goal. This goal is, reportedly, the continuing development of Malta into “a prosperous, efficient, and humane society founded on principles of democratic governance, legality and social justice, and inspired by a spirit of commitment and partnership both internally as well as within the wider international community”.
To stand 10-feet tall before the assembled foreign diplomats, oozing self-praise, is one thing. Facing reality and measuring performance by results is another.
The PN administration, with Dr Gonzi now at its head, has been in office for the best part of 18 years (bar 22 short months). The overall performance of the PN administration is measurable. It has been measured independently of the government. And the end result is by no means flattering.
Economic afflictions
Malta has been living for years on borrowed money, and is afflicted by a structural deficit problem.
The EU statistical agency, EUROSTAT, only recently confirmed that during its first year of EU accession, Malta’s economy grew poorer when compared to the EU average. In fact, Malta’s GDP per capita, in purchasing power terms, declined from 72 per cent of the EU average in 2003 to 69 per cent in 2004.
The EU’s autumn economic forecast revised downwards Malta’s growth projections for 2004 and 2005, putting Malta as the worst performing member state.
Malta was also placed at the bottom of the league table of EU member states’ progress towards achieving the aims of the Lisbon agenda.
Malta also ranks last, and is estimated to need “more than 50 years” to catch up with the EU average, when it comes to the transformation of innovation assets such as education and investment in innovation, and turnover coming from new products, employment in high tech sectors, patents and other innovation measures.
Aggravations
Nor is this all, Malta has been losing its competitiveness for lack of countervailing initiatives by the government and the private sector. Since the last general election, more than 35 factories and a number of hotels have folded up. Unemployment figures have peaked up accordingly.
The internal situation has been
further aggravated by rising taxation, higher living costs and rising
inflation.
The government has appointed countless experts, several boards and authorities and other centres of decision-making to no avail. The lavish waste of public funds, a steep rise in crime and drug addiction, and a creeping moral degeneration foul the social milieu to which Malta had long been accustomed.
None of this matches with the self-serving language with which the diplomats were entertained at the Auberge de Castille.
No amount of make-belief will do to put the Maltese economy on the right track
Imperatives of survival
Malta’s survival depends on initiative, productive investment, outward-oriented entrepreneurship, and purposeful leadership.
Successful leadership has to be all-inclusive, and determined to employ all available resources to achieve optimum results.
Even so, in a globalised world, driven by unyielding competition, there could be no guarantee of sure success.
The only sure guarantee one could expect is that, without active leadership and sufficient real growth, Malta is heading for hard times.
No diplomatic embroidery will conceal the hard fact that, after 18 years of Nationalist administration, Malta finds itself heavily in debt, highly taxed and slow-moving in terms of economic growth.
The need of a change in direction is clear and urgent – and it is becoming equally clear that new blood is needed to launch and press home this change.
[email protected]