There do remain things to be done, but independently of what those who prefer to paint it all black say, matters have improved quite substantially. It has been obvious that Malta’s international reputation got a big hit in the past fifteen years. Those who try to pin this development uniquely on the acts of the Labour administration – as the current champions of the rule of law proclaim – are playing games.
The acceleration of the gaming industry and of financial services during the Gonzi adminsitration – the scandals around Smart City, European Commissioner Dalli and others – were also crucial elements in how the islands’ reputation got undermined.
The Robert Abela administration is bringing matters back under a control that asserts transparency and accountability. It is not an easy task; yet I really believe it is being kept on track with consistency and good planning.
The problem when reputational issues arise is that while the problem develops very fast, one needs much more time in order to roll it back and get it off the agenda.
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LUXEMBOURG
In past weeks, Luxembourg was subjected to a media campaign run by European newspapers which published reports about the thousands of companies and trusts which had registered in the country. They emphasized how these entities had thereby evaded paying the taxes that were due from them in other jurisdictions.
Malta has been through the same experience during past years... and it is still subject to attacks regarding how its taxation policies are designed to help big companies operating outside the islands shrug off their financial dues.
I read the defence sent by Luxembourg’s finance minister Gramegna in a letter to a European Parliament committee. Luxembourg agrees with and supports transparency, he stated. It publishes the names of all those who arrive in the Dutchy to set up a company there, so that their identity is known to all. And that was how the European media got to know about the companies established in Luxembourg. When critics refer to the size of Luxembourg to wonder about how it can house so many thousands of registered companies, they seem to forget that Luxembourg is part of the single European market. Whoever is a member of this single market and wishes to enter a country according to the rules of the single market, can do so freely. The size of the country has little to do with the number of firms that it attracts.
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VACCINE
I doubt whether I am the only one to be a bit confused about the sequencing of the anti-corona virus vaccination process that is being conducted. I understand that sequencing has got to be established according to different criteria – so, for those who are in the front line of our defences against the pandemic, it would have been disastrous not to give them high priority – indeed the highest.
I understand too that there would have been pressures from various sectors of society for their members to also be given priority to get inoculated. Some would have been justified, others less so – a matter which ends up depending on the relative social strength “enjoyed” by sectoral lobbies prepared to demonstrate how tough they could become.
On the other hand, it is difficult to understand how the sector that was defined as being the most vulnerable... namely those aged 80 and more, are still not fully covered.