Finance Minister Tonio Fenech presented Budget 2012 to parliament on Monday night. The speech was simpler than usual and the man seems to have mastered the art of spelling out the government’s plans (irrespective of content) with clear delivery and simplicity.

Over the years, the trend of having massive press conferences by all and sundry just after the speech, is waning. Nowadays, social partners and constituted bodies are more measured in their reactions, they tend to study the budget measures and then issue a written statement within a couple of days. This is the way it should be done. No one, no matter how bright or savvy, can go through all the measures of some 100+ pages and come out with a detailed analysis of what the document contains. In fact, this is one area which newspapers have to deal with on a yearly basis, it takes a lot of manpower to do it, and even then, the document is examined as a holistic concept.

On Monday, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat will deliver his reply in parliament. We look forward to it, and we look forward to his maybe telling us how he intends to implement the pledge to reduce water and electricity bills, and where the shortfall is going to be made up. Following this, the PL will hold their own press conference, and then the reactions will begin once more. This is the way it should be done.

But, this time around, we have seen a veritable shoving down the throat of budgets and real budgets (the PL’s take on the document). Facebook and Twitter have also been used as platforms for post after post related to the budget and ‘counter’ budget, so much so that people are actually commenting on various walls that everyone was going overboard with the whole thing.

But it gets worse. The budget is no longer an issue where people sit glued to black and white Grundig television sets to see how much fags and tuna have gone up. It is something which they listen to as a concept, and then wait for a comprehensive analysis of what is happening with the economy, and how it is going to affect them. People want the issues explained, and when measures are announced, they want an explanation of how it is going to be implemented, financed and maintained. From there, they use their own gumption to work out whether the plan sounds doable or not, and this is exactly why people want to hear Dr Muscat’s proposal. It is not the proposal which they wish to judge, but Dr Muscat and his team’s ability to draft concrete policy.

What people certainly do not want is politicians delivering press conferences on a daily basis. The pattern goes a little like this: Opposition spokesman gives a press conference, takes their sector and shoots down virtually everything the government has proposed. Opposition spokesman then fields questions and answers with waffle. The government then organises a press conference and repeats the entire mantra which was skillfully delivered last Monday. Government representative then fields questions and answers with waffle.

The above paragraph encapsulates what has been going on this past week. It is too much and it is overboard. The Opposition should have waited till the leader gave his speech in parliament, followed by a press conference. Then, the matter should be discussed in parliament and scrutinised and analysed by the media. Equally, the government should not have embarked on this strategy of ‘pre-recorded’ replies.