The clock at home has just struck twelve, letting us know that Sunday has now turned into Monday - Budget Day. At this hour the Budget speech is ready and is securely under wraps in the briefcase of the Minister for Finance, possibly besides his bedside table. This will be made public later. Mind you, this article will be published the day after Budget measures have been announced. When you will be reading this, discussions, comments and arguments will be on all sorts of media. All speculation and hype is killed unceremoniously as the Budget measures are known and will come into force, some with immediate effect.
Accompanied by my spouse, we have returned home after a lavish reception. Light conversation and small talk turned to speculative Budget measures amongst the many guests invited. The occasion we attended was organised by close friends of ours to mark the 50th Anniversary since the setting up of their business. The Chairman, the senior member of the family, has single-handedly started a small business supported by his wife, working together round the clock in the early 60s. As was expected, the Chairman made a short speech. Not particularly keen on making public speeches, his short address must have been rehearsed over and over again to ensure that the punch lines in his speech come across well, at times very strongly. A message was mainly directed towards his children, their partners and his employees, encouraging them to continue in his footsteps while taking timely decisions for rainy days. Over the years the business has flourished, although during the early 80s it went through very difficult moments and nearly went bust. He claims that for his political beliefs known to all, he had to endure political pressures which almost caused him to lose his business, his family and worse his health.
Norman Vella’s unexpected police arrest from his place of work ignited a surge of flashbacks from the early 80s, which many times infringed on human rights. Those entrusted to prevent such actions and abusive behaviour from taking place turned a blind eye. In my opinion Norman’s episode is tantamount to coercion, and those responsible for such actions should be held accountable. If they fail to do so voluntarily then Government should without further delay appoint an independent commission to enquire into the matter within a reasonable timeframe. Findings should be submitted to the responsible Minister for the necessary action. Workers should not be subjected to intimidation and vexatious manoeuvers. No one has the right to use these shameful tactics to attain his/her or their malign, politically motivated objectives. Norman’s police arrest from his place of work for no apparent reason follows the recent Gozo Channel duty manager’s suspension from work for no clear reason. The present administration should know better than to use workers as scapegoats. These repeated incidents are a cause for alarm as these clearly demonstrate abuse of power. These incidents may be perceived by some as trivial, yet these may well be dress rehearsals for more serious planned entrapments which may be in store for others. The perpetrators of these intimidating actions should not be allowed to hide their actions under a guise or pretext.
No doubt these vexatious actions are not acceptable to many and are sending the wrong message to people who may be looking from afar at Malta. The rule of law is a must, a prerequisite to ascertain and give piece of mind both to the local community and to those who are looking at Malta for their economic activity. Surprisingly, last Friday Xarabank’s team announced they do not see these issues as serious enough and worth investigating, claiming conflict of interest. I hope others worth their salt will take the task head-on and launch a programme on the issue on TVM with the participation of Norman Vella.
Nevertheless, today many will be discussing the first Budget of this legislature which our Minister for Finance Prof Edward Scicluna has presented yesterday. As I’m penning this before the budget’s broadcast, I will not be taking any risks in writing that he did not entertain much from the proposals submitted by the social partners and other organisations. What is certain however is the fact that last Sunday most of MCESD members complained publicly about the lack of proper consultation at the MCESD. Some were reported as saying that MCESD members were allowed five minutes to explain their proposals. This is not a good sign.
In making his final choices on what measures to introduce and what to ignore organisations, some more than others, will have to accept a “NO” for an answer to their submissions. Obviously, the Minister for Finance will be left on his own burdened to give the first “Nos” of this legislature to those who were led to believe that a change in direction will pave the way to greener pastures. As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
The Minister for Finance and his team from his Ministry will always have the difficult task to make financial ends meet. However, hopefully this morning we will be able to discuss the shift in direction which was promised without putting into jeopardy economic growth, undermining better employment opportunities and putting at risk our social welfare system. Today one hopes that yesterday’s Budget for 2014 will wipe out all uncertainty which has been festering amongst our economic and social players for the past months.
It would be unwise to expect from the new Government and hold him accountable for the long list of vote-catching proposals which were promised in his electoral manifesto at this stage. What one should expect from the Budget for 2014 is the good maintenance of the national finances, without putting in danger economic growth, thus less employment opportunities. There can be no improvement in people’s quality of life unless basic economic rules are observed. This is a very fine line, hopefully today people will be talking about the new introduced incentives, their application and the benefits retrieved rather than who is going to pay more for less.
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