While I admire your communication skills, I really regret that you were unable to rise up to the occasion when presenting your first budget on the eve of a looming recession. While your European counterparts are busy finding ways how to strengthen the purchasing power of their citizens, you have been driven by one of your colleagues to do just the opposite because your first preoccupation was how to balance the books for 2008.

Now you have burdened yourself with a steeper uphill struggle. I frankly think that your greatest headache at the moment is not that you will end 2008 off the mark just the same or that the looming recession will play havoc with your growth projections for 2009. Right now, I guess that you are more distressed by the fact that while governments all over Europe are perceived to be part of the solution to the financial and economic problems facing their countries, our government itself is being seen as an integral part of the Maltese problem.

If you sense this prevailing feeling, there could be a remedy and you could be a key for a better management of the risks lying ahead of us. We need a national concerted effort. All cabinet members should be entrusted with leading several consultation processes among all stakeholders with the following aims:

• Identifying the real problems facing the specific sectors;

• Finding ways how to address these problems without further burdens to the consumer;

• Easing some of the taxpayers’ burdens thus increasing their purchasing power;

• Making more efficient use of our national assets starting with human resources;

• Creating sustainable jobs by advancing national projects such as public transport, port rehabilitation and eco-Gozo;

• Promoting environmental friendly and energy efficient investments in a more generous manner;

• Developing a midterm strategy how to cut on waste in the public expenditure.

At the same time your colleagues should be held back from detonating further bombshells amid the increasing apprehension. This is precisely what one of them has just done by announcing future tariffs, this time for water treatment. Such bombshells are only good to demoralise consumers and cause further contractions to the whole economy. The PM should store some yellow cards in his pocket for such poorly-timed aggravations.

When is it best to kickstart such an endeavour? We have already missed the first train. By the end of February 2009 the consultation processes should have to be well underway. A good team with some macro-economists should then assist you to prioritise and you could start implementing some of the measures as soon as possible. This is not a time to be complacent or worse still be overconfident in the effectiveness of the 2009 budget measures. These, compounded with the water and electricity hikes and the looming recession, threaten to translate into higher unemployment, negative growth and a crushing defeat for the government side in the coming June EP elections.

Agnes Debono

Kercem