Budget 2026 will be "the best in the history of our country," Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday.

He was interviewed on party media on Sunday, and said that the date for Budget 2026 will be announced in the coming days.

Prime Minister Abela hinted that the next budget will continue to strengthen the middle class, improve working conditions, and push to continue "transforming" the country by implementing electoral pledges.

He said that over 70% of the government's electoral pledges have been fulfilled so far and that work on all other electoral promises from the remaining 30% will continue so that they can come to fruition.

During this interview, the Prime Minister noted that the tax cuts announced last October had, alone, contributed to a GDP growth of 0.4%. Abela said that these tax cuts, for the average family, meant an additional week's pay in their pockets.

He commented that the tax cut enshrined the economic philosophy of his Labour government. In this regard, he mentioned that "others," referring the Nationalist Party in Opposition, believe in the opposite approach of using austerity measures.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the highly controversial planning bills which the government introduced in the middle of summer. The Bills would bring about the suspension of planning permits that are under appeal, a point which many have long been calling for, but would introduce a raft of other changes that have raised serious concerns. As a result, the Bills have been slammed by many sections of society as being ones that favour developers.

Just a few days prior, the government announced a one-month consultation into the planning bills, Bills 143 and 144. NGOs responded that the bills must be withdrawn and instead, "a genuine consultation process through the publication of a White Paper" should be the way forward.

The Prime Minister discussed the proposal for developments to be automatically suspended once a formal appeal has been lodged. He said that at the moment, works on a planning application may proceed while a formal appeal into the legality of that development has been filed.

He also spoke of the option for illegal developments constructed before 1994 to be regularised through payment, and the Prime Minister recounted that many of the people who own such illegal plots are pensioners. He said that many of these pensioners use these plots for quality time with their loved ones, e.g., a field area used for family barbecues.

Abela noted that "there are thousands of buildings like this" across the Maltese islands today. He stated that morally, he felt that it would not be right to demolish the area of an 80-year-old pensioner, even if the law may dictate this. People with illegal plots/developments dating back to before 1994 will be given the option to either pay a hefty concession or pay double that fee to regularise the place. He added that through this measure, such people will be free of the headache that the burden of these illegal lands will be transferred down to their kin.

Abela said that the main aim of the planning reform is for the law proposed by the Government to provide certainty, clarity, and discipline. Abela said that the changes will address realities that have been accumulating for decades.

Discussing other points of the bills, he said that through policies which did not necessarily conform with Local Plans, project applicants and objectors could never fully anticipate whether a project should be granted a permit by the Planning Authority or not. Furthermore, he noted that frustration brewed within applicants and objectors over many projects over the years as past documents, which should have aligned in scope, actually conflicted one another. "For the first time, our country will have planning laws that offer discipline and certainty," the Prime Minister said.

He said that through clearer planning laws and by having clearer parameters on developments, clear non-starter projects should not see the light of day from the very start.

The Prime Minister said that the Parliament will discuss these planning bills as soon as the summer recess is over. Till then, a ministerial working group has been appointed for them to discuss relevant proposals and discuss these changes with stakeholders.

Prime Minister calls the Nationalist Party 'hypocrites,' doesn't know what the Opposition stands for

Earlier this week, Francine Farrugia, a PN Siġġiewi local councillor who worked as a finance manager at MCAST, was on Thursday charged with defrauding €2.3 million from MCAST. Farrugia has denied the charges that were filed against her, pleading not guilty.

The Prime Minister said that, in spite of the way the PN works to portray itself, these "very serious accusations" against the elected PN councillor were followed by "almost absolute silence," he said.