It is not the first time that the Maltese are called out for their love of the superlative. In every sphere, sector or miniverse we inhabit, we tend to be obsessed with being the first, the oldest, the biggest and the best. Anything less, is not worth our time, it seems.

Perhaps the latest victim of this island mentality was none other than our dear Prime Minister himself, who together with his well-oiled PL marketing machine, ran a wall-to-wall campaign all throughout summer, culminating in the past weeks, promoting and creating great expectations for the budget for 2026.

The expectation was so great indeed, that the talk in the streets was that Malta and Gozo were going to be served with the designed, planned and calculated solutions to all of life's problems. Alas, it was not so, and what was billed to be the best budget in history, turned out to be a rather disappointing, albeit generous, exercise in marketing and little more.

Of course, the budget for next year had some great proposals, and some great initiatives too. However, for what was meant to be the best budget in history, it left a lot to be desired.

We have come a long way since when the budget used to be a mere accounting exercise, whereby the Minister for Finance would announce and list the goods increasing or decreasing in price. Consecutive governments have seized the opportunity to use the annual exercise to outline the administration's financial and economic aspirations for the coming year.

Unfortunately, however, this did not happen. The Labour government once again relied on its greatest hits, playing the only record it knows how to play, which unfortunately is showing some very serious signs of stress.

Once again, government has chosen to postpone addressing some of the most crucial and pressing issues by another year - time that we simply do not have.

For another year, government has chosen to remain frozen in the headlights in the face of the impending implosion of the country's chosen economic growth model, which has brought with it untold burden on all the country. This was confirmed by the Minister for Finance himself who declared that next year's economic growth is once again going to be fuelled by local consumption, admitting in no uncertain terms that the importation of workers from all over God's green earth, remains the only trick the PL government knows.

For this reason, for another year, we expect to be postponing problems such as the increasing population, the already unacceptable traffic congestion, the impossible operation waiting lists, the crowded waiting rooms in our hospitals, the unmanageable undersupply of pharmaceuticals, and a hundred other issues that affect our families directly.

For a government that has prided itself to be presiding over l-aqwa żmien, and the best budget in history, we would have expected to be presented with at least a hint to the solutions to these issues. Instead, we are meant to wait quietly for another year to pass and hope for budget 2027.

On the other hand, the Nationalist Party, even from the Opposition benches is showing that it has what it takes to be an alternative government. The Leader of the Opposition Alex Borg, in fact went as far as detailing a list of proposals that a Nationalist government would enact in order to address the pressing issues the country is facing.

A wide, far-reaching exercise that shows a focused Opposition which is determined enough to call out the excesses of government but also bold enough to propose solutions.

Dr Darren Carabott is the Chairperson of the PAC and Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Security