Budget day is round the corner. It is appropriate to see how on the 4 November 2013 l-orizzont hailed the first Labour budget which was being presented by Joseph Muscat’s Labour on that day.

L-orizzont commented editorially “After many years of the worst degration in the way of living of the majority of the Maltese population, today is the official and most expected day which we believe shall open all windows and doors for prosperity and national wealth instead of for the chosen few.”

Notwithstanding Labour’s battlecry of Malta tagħna lkoll so much acclaimed by l-orizzont, “the worst degradation in the way of living” and “the chosen few” referred to by l-orizzont started 79 months ago under Muscat’s Labour.

Degradation in the way of living

Under Labour, the way of living of the Maltese, particularly those on a low income and the pensioners, is deteriorating. Thousands are facing poverty risk whilst others are moving in that direction. When presenting his Budget 2020 to Cabinet, the Minister for Finance said that 19% of the population (approximately 84,000) are facing poverty risk. Poverty threatens fundamental human rights. According to social justice, prosperity should be enjoyed by everybody and not by the few, or,worse, the chosen few.

Muscat’s government did not open all windows and doors for everybody as falsely predicted by l-orizzont. In fact, we are encountering a degradation in the way of living. In the last six years of the PN administration, the cost of living allowance given was €19.80 weekly whilst during the first six years of Labour this was €13.65 weekly. In 1997 during Alfred Sant’s administration Dom Mintoff was prophetic when he declared that “Labour lost its social soul”. Labour never changes.

‘The chosen few’

According to l-orizzont, the national wealth under Labour was to be enjoyed by everyone and not by the “chosen few”. When l-orizzont referred to “the chosen few” probably this was a prediction of what was to happen under a Labour administration with the creation of cliques. L-orizzont was prophetic regarding those who are having the cake and eating it. It would be appropriate if, after six years of l-orizzont’s editorial and 79 months of Labour administration, l-orizzont expresses an honest opinion regarding “the chosen few” created after March 2013.

Social justice for everyone

When the Minister for Finance – under the slogan “A government that performs” – made his presentation to Cabinet regarding the Budget for 2020, the seventh Labour Budget, he declared that the emphasis would be on housing and pensioners.Recalling the promises not kept by Muscat, the suffering of the people since March 2013 and how wealth is being distributed amongst the chosen ones, I wonder how the Minister’s words can be taken seriously..

During the last 79 months, social justice – which should not look at faces – has been thrown overboard by Muscat’s government. When government says that it “shall continue distributing wealth in a just way”, it might possibly be referring, amongst many others, to the recent appointment of a One TV presenter since 2016 appointed Head of Public Relations at Air Malta with a salary package of tens of thousands of euros. This, notwithstanding the fact that this person held a position with Malta Enterprise and other consultancy positions. Also recently, a Minister’s ex-Secretary was catapulted to the position of Chief Executive with a company jointly owned between government and a private organisation. With Labour, meritocracy and social justice are a joke.

Budget expectations

This Budget comes at a time when, as I quoted the Minister for Finance earlier, there are about 84,000 persons at poverty risk. We are at a time when we are encountering various increases in prices of essential commodities amongst them bread, milk and its derivatives, medicines, postage rates, petrol and diesel. Food prices are rising at double the EU average. We must also keep in mind the exorbitant increases in rent and the purchase of property.

On one side workers are facing low wages / salaries and on the other side the increase in the cost of living. This situation is also affecting middle class families. In these circumstances, Muscat’s government should ensure that the Budget distributes social justice according to everyones needs. Social justice is one of the fundamental human rights.

Dignity not charity

The Budget’s primary objective should be that the families advance – that the way of living, particularly of those with a low income, will be on the forefront. The Budget should ensure a change in the way of life of those facing poverty and those moving in that direction. Senior citizens and pensioners, most of whom are in the risk of poverty, should be given adequate support – dignity not charity. The pensioners’ age of those receiving the €300 grant should gradually start being lowered. The wealth that Muscat’s government boasts about should be given out justly to everyone and not only to the select few.

The surplus which the Minister for Finance said he wants to keep sustaining, should help families, particularly those in need, including the middle class, youths who want to rent or purchase property, and senior citizens and pensioners most of whom cannot make both ends meet by the end of the month.

‘The best in Europe’?

Statistics published recently show that Malta had the least increase in wages / salaries in the European Union. The statistics also confirm that wages / salaries are on the low side compared with the European average. Muscat’s claim of being “the best in Europe” is a sham. The minimum wage, which is still amongst the lowest in Europe, should be increased reasonablyto move with the times.

As time goes by, more citizens are hardly seeing an increase in their pay-packets.When compared to the increases in the prices of commodities,  they are ending with less money in their pockets. Even though some middle-class work full-time and part-time, they are not making both ends meet as they are also being affected negatively.

Government’s economic model to broaden the economy through unplanned increase in population is having a negative impact on wages / salaries. As the government consultants stated,cheap labour is putting up its head again.

One hopes that if the minister boasts of no increases in taxes, as happened in the last Budgets, there will be no direct or indirect taxes throughout 2020 and increases in the cost of living should not wait for Budget Day to be adjusted with low income citizens receiving a higher adjustment.