Reactions and counter-reactions to the Budget 2008 were substantially in favour of the measures proposed by the government, with the Malta Labour Party and the General Workers Union among the few who criticised the document.

All the reactions put together by The Malta Independent showed that generally speaking this year’s budget measures were welcomed and praised, although certain constituted bodies did point out that they would still like to see improvements in some areas.

Having said that, even the GWU said the budget included some positive points, but insisted that these do not make up for workers’ sacrifices.

On the other hand, the Malta Labour Party, together with Alternattiva Demokratika and Azzjoni Nazzjonali, were all critical, to different extents, of the budget put forward by Prime Minister and Finance Minister on Monday morning.

An online poll on Budget 2008 on this newspaper’s website yesterday afternoon proved to be very popular, with more than 500 hits having been registered in the first few hours and more than half the respondents saying they believed Budget 2008 was “excellent”. The poll will continue for the next few days.

AD said that while it was pleased the government had included some of its proposals, it was disappointed that many serious problems had been ignored.

Interestingly, while AN referred to Budget 2008 as an election budget, the MLP said the measures were “too little, too late”, a slogan that it is also using in its most recent political campaign and on posters that have appeared on the façade of the party clubs.

Apart from the three political groups and the GWU, all other constituted bodies including the Federation of Industry, the Malta Employers’ Association, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions and the Malta Union of Teachers all had words of praise for the measures introduced.

The Labour Youth Forum (Forum Zghazagh Laburisti) too said it expected much more out of this year’s budget.

In a statement issued yesterday, the forum said the country needs a new beginning and a government that can convincingly provide citizens with a better quality of life. The forum also criticised the Nationalist government of copying ideas put forward recently by the MLP.

The Nationalist Party issued a statement criticising the Labour Party over the fact that it printed posters with comments on Budget 2008 before it was presented in Parliament.

The MLP’s actions show that it is not interested in analysing the budget in an objective manner, but simply wanted to come up with a negative depiction of the facts, in stark contrast with reactions from the country’s constituted bodies and social partners.

Among those who sent their reactions yesterday was the National Council of Women (NCW), noting “with great pleasure” that many of the proposals that it put forward to the government were included in Budget 2008.

NCW made particular reference to the revision of the tax bands and provision of childcare services, saying it was convinced that these measures will encourage more women to return to work and hence increase the percentage of women in the workforce.

The provision for pensioners wishing to remain active in employment will also see more active senior citizens contributing to the nation’s economy and continuing to lend their expertise in their respective fields of work, the council concluded.

The president of the Local Councils Association, Michael Cohen, on the other hand, expressed his disappointment that in his budget speech, Prime Minister Gonzi never mentioned anything related to local councils.

The association had requested a Lm1 million (EUR2.33 million) fund for local councils to participate in EU programmes and projects.

It had also requested additional funds for local councils to be able to employ professional people to help them participate in EU programmes.

However, in a reply to the association president’s statement, PN members on the association’s executive expressed their disappointment that they were not informed that Mr Cohen would be sending a statement to the media on such a sensitive subject.

In a letter sent to Mr Cohen, Ian Micallef, Noel Formosa and Doris Borg said his statement does not reflect their opinion.

All the positive measures in Budget 2008 require thorough evaluation, they said in their letter, adding that it was just the Labour Party and Mr Cohen’s statement that spoke about the budget in a negative light.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the Education, Youth and Employment Ministry replied to what Opposition Leader Alfred Sant was reported as saying regarding the government’s expenditure in the education sector.

The statement said that Dr Sant was reported as saying that the government spent Lm8.6 million (EUR20 million) less than last year’s allocation to the education sector and the allocated funds for next year are less than they were last year.

The ministry said that when the financial estimates were put forward during last year’s budget, the European Commission had not yet approved the operational programmes submitted by member States with regard to the Structural Funds Programme 2007-2013.

Nonetheless, the ministry said it immediately started committing itself to a number of projects, so that tenders would be able to start being awarded.

This evening, between 6.30pm and 8pm, Prime Minister Gonzi will participate in an online forum that is open to the general public at www.budget2008.com.mt