The Labour Party’s finance spokesman, deputy leader Charles Mangion said that as expected the Ecofin council had approved Malta’s adoption of the euro from 1 January and the Malta lira-euro exchange rate had been set at the ongoing rate. Serious challenges now faced Malta as a member of the EU’s eurozone, he said.

The first was to stand by the financial aims established by the stability pact while ensuring that the country’s social fabric was retained and strengthened. This meant that Malta’s finances needed to be sustainable not by the sale of national assets, which had been resorted to by the Nationalist government, but by improving competitiveness and expanding the economy sustainably and in a balanced way.

Malta’s gross domestic product was low when compared to that of EU countries and for us to benefit from the euro as much as possible the Maltese economy needed to be synchronised with that of the eurozone countries, Dr Mangion said.

To improve competitiveness the tax burden needed to be lightened, and bureaucracy eased. In Malta under a Nationalist government the opposite had happened – taxation was the highest in the EU in the past year and bureaucracy and corruption had grown and infiltrated administrative structures.

They also needed to have a stronger educational sector which would provide trained and multi-skilled workers, which would give value added to Maltese products and services. Under the government, Malta had fallen to the lowest level of educational results when compared to EU countries.

Dr Mangion said they should also keep in mind that euro adoption could have a negative impact on the cost of living. Families have been suffering because of the cost of living of these past years and the Nationalist government is not strong enough to withstand the impact of the euro’s introduction. The government’s weakness was apparent in its failure in medicinal and food prices and the costs of essential services.