The budget presented this week is one that empowers people.  It focuses on fiscal and budgetary consolidation that boosts confidence in our economy, which in turn spearheads stronger investment.  This is the climate, combined with the announced social incentives, which will create more jobs and therefore, more wealth that should be distributed in a fair and just manner.

The numbers are there.  The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has doubled in the past months, over last year.  Does anyone remember the last time we had economic growth in Malta that reached 5.4%?  On the other hand, from an excessive deficit, we are now speaking of a deficit within the acceptable limits of the Stability and Growth Pact: down to 2.7% by the end of this year and 2.1% by the end of 2014.

 This is truly a government that delivers.  Yes, it has delivered various electoral promises (dubbed by the Nationalist Party before the election as ‘Alice in Wonderland’ proposals) that have now been implemented through the measures announced by the finance Minister last Monday.  Additionally, and what strikes me most, is that the budgetary forecasts made at the start of this legislature, by the new government, have been delivered.  It really seems that the times they are a-changin’.

We had all become accustomed to Tonio Fenech’s lottery each and every year.  Forecasts, predictions and targets that used to be revealed in the budget speech, only to be hidden and forgotten the next day.  Then they wondered why the majority of us were losing trust in our political system and politicians.  This is the change we wanted, the change we wanted to see and the change we voted for.

Yes, numbers are important and as seen, numerical targets are finally being reached.  However, the emphasis in this first Labour budget was not on numbers, but rather on people.  The trio that worked on the budget, Prim Minister Joseph Muscat, Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech and Finance Minister Edward Sciciluna worked tirelessly to present a budget that seeks to attract more investment, creates more wealth and builds a stronger and a more just Malta. 

As Joseph Muscat recently said, it is not enough to have positive financial figures but that this positivity is also translated in people’s pockets.  People must feel the difference and all should be given the opportunity to move forward.  Economic growth must be felt by all and it is government’s duty to aid the most vulnerable to get back on their feet and give them the space to individually grow.

Yes, this is a budget that empowers people. 

It gives each and every one of us the needed tools for success.  Education, training and incentives for new employment which remove the hurdles that some of us were facing in the past years.  It is a budget that promotes and rewards productivity and the hard-work of most middle-class families in Malta.

 After all, this is what most of us have been asking for:  the right tools to grow.

Cyrus Engerer is an MEP election candidate on the Labour Party ticket