Dr Joseph Muscat’s speech on Budget 2012 provided a much-needed analysis of where we stand and the direction that our country needs. 

The government has clearly shown that it lacks direction in managing public finances. The government is just not getting its priorities right. As a result, our future is at stake. 

Inefficiency is the order of the day. A culture of secrecy, as in the case of granting oneself a weekly increase of €500, away from the public eye, as well as the decrease of genuine debate, can explain this ingrained culture of inefficiency.

Dr Muscat exposed the government’s incompetence when, for example, he listed a great number of objectives that were set in the last budget speech but which remain unaccomplished. Some of the promises have been made for years on end. Dr Muscat gave a new impetus to the national debate when he highlighted the artificial way in which the government tries to manage a deficit that sees our public debt increase at a worrying rate as inefficiencies place a significant strain on the taxpayer. Public finances are being managed solely from an accountant’s point of view. 

Dr Muscat provided perspective and sobriety at a time when, in its budget speech, Dr Gonzi’s government ignored the European Commission’s warning to set about reining in the deficit and public debt.

Dr Muscat displayed perspective and sobriety, for example, when he said that the state was ultimately the servant of the people and that a Labour government would lead by example. He committed to reversing the €500 increase this Cabinet had given itself and the setting up of proper structures that would ensure transparency when the salaries of constitutional figures are discussed and decided. 

Dr Muscat not only evaluated and appreciated the current state of affairs, but also provided a first glimpse of Labour’s vision on how it intends to restore national pride and initiative. He presented 51 proposals that bind a potential future Labour government. 

Dr Muscat’s commitment provides a ray of hope to the self-employed through fiscal measures, to students to make quality academic achievement more accessible, and to all that the cost of energy can be tackled as one of the factors that will kick-start the economy; the list was indeed long and engaging.

The growth in efficiency will gradually reverse the trend of high taxes and inordinate bureaucracy that is the result of the current government’s manifest inefficiencies.

Dr Muscat’s energy, enthusiasm and vision underpinned by a Labour Party replete with excellent human resources contrasted with an exhausted Nationalist government that can now only rely on political expediency littered with unfulfilled promises made to all and sundry, ingrained inefficiencies, and a commitment to spin rather than to deliver.

Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi is the president of the Labour Party