It is positive to hear that next week’s budget, according to Finance Minister Tonio Fenech speaking in an interview with this newspaper, will not be used as an economic and not an electoral tool. Over the past years, the budget’s keyword has been responsibility, and it appears to be no different this time around. 

But should the budget not pass through Parliament given the disarray within the government ranks, a battle of the budgets could very well ensue. If that comes to pass, the election debates will centre around who will, once freshly elected, be able to present the best budget for the country.

That is a debate that the government may feel it can win, but then again the public has not yet seen what Labour’s budget proposals might be.

Here it must be stated that the last thing the economy needs right now are hollow, cosmetic budget-linked electoral promises that will, one way or another, need to be at least seen to be fulfilled.

In that scenario, in which budget proposals are reduced to immediate populist issues such as electricity bill reductions or income tax breaks, the country could face a very serious, potentially derailing economic crisis. Given the economic situation in Europe, it would not take much to derail the Maltese economy, which is in a precarious position but which is holding its head well above the water compared with several of its competing economies.

In that scenario, what the country will need are no-nonsense budget proposals that cut to the heart of the problems the country is facing, which are not always very friendly or popular, unlike simply cutting taxes or energy rates. That is, so far, what the government has proposed in its pre-budget document, which has very few frills attached, and what the finance minister alludes to in today’s issue.

IVF board: reason prevails

It is heartening to see that reason appears to have won the day in the debate over the institution of an ‘IVF board’ that had been proposed to be tasked with giving the green or red light to couples seeking to undergo IVF treatments.

The very concept, as we had put it recently, was utterly inconceivable and not only risked undermining the medical profession as a whole but it also ran the risk of seriously invading couples’ privacy. The Opposition has used the phrase ‘Big Brother’ in this context and although the invocation is a little sensationalistic, it fits.

Although the debate is still to be wrapped up, and is expected to resume on Monday, the government and Opposition, according to Chris Said, the minister spearheading the Embryo Protection Bill, appear to have agreed on the way forward.

The government, following Labours recommendation, has agreed to drop the contentious requirement that couples seek a certificate of eligibility of sorts from the regulatory authority in order to be cleared for IVF treatment. 

Instead of a board comprised of strangers, couples’ medical practitioners, who they have already been dealing with and with who they are familiar, would be responsible for ascertaining their eligibility.

Good sense and reason seem to have prevailed at the end of the day.

PN deputy leadership race

Next week’s Nationalist Party deputy leadership race will see two outstanding people contesting the same post. Both are young, have seemingly limitless energy and both have served the country admirably in their different roles.

As a European parliamentarian, Simon Busuttil brings to the table a wealth of experience from Brussels. He has promoted Maltese interests in Europe in a nearly unparalleled manner, he has climbed high up the MEP ladder and has tackled the issues that have affected the country, placed them on the EU table and has forced discussions to take place.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, meanwhile, has steered the country into the eurozone when he was a parliamentary secretary in the finance ministry, and as finance minister since 2008 he has also steered the economy through the very difficult waters of the economic turmoil, sovereign debt crisis and financial meltdown that have characterised the last four years.

The fact is that whoever emerges as the victor next Saturday will have a mammoth task before him helping the Prime Minister rally the troops, who have been in a state of disarray over at least the last year.  

That person will have to cement himself into the role very quickly indeed before an election is called, early or not, if the Nationalist Party intends to put up a good fight in the forthcoming electoral campaign. 

We wish them both the best of luck in next week’s contest, and we wish the winner every success in his mission. For, after all, it is only when the country has the strongest political parties possible that the people get the best that the parties have to offer.