Finance Minister Clyde Caruana told Parliament on Monday that he fears that the cost-of-living protests occurring in different parts of the European continent are just the first wave of protests that he expects to continue over the coming weeks and months.
"I greatly fear that this is just the first wave of protestors protesting," he said, "More people will be protesting in these countries in the coming months as their burden of debt is enormous, and we are seeing the consequences of this."
While responding to a series of questions at the start of Monday's plenary, Minister Caruana praised how Malta's situation "is totally different" to countries experiencing protests and heightening public outrage towards the increasing cost of living and energy prices.
The Minister for Finance said that Malta's different reality "is no coincidence" and that it is the result of several decisions taken over the past few years to protect the country's economy. He said that Malta is not immune to potentially facing similar struggles, "though we are managing to protect our economy from these shocks - and that's what we will continue doing, as you will see in my Budget announcement next week."
"What is happening in France, Milan, and Brussels is a result of governments who are unable to do what we are doing," Caruana said.
He stated that European protestors "are citizens like us" who simply cannot bear to continue forking out more money from their pockets to keep up with increasing prices all around.
Caruana affirmed once again that Malta will continue to provide its energy subsidies, noting that the country has spent €400 million on keeping energy and fuel prices down in the Maltese islands this year and that the government must continue their provision.
The Minister for Finance defended the government's energy subsidies so strongly that he went as far as saying that "whoever tells us to stop supplying them, I believe their interests are other than safeguarding Maltese and Gozitan citizens."
During this question time, Opposition MP Adrian Delia, who is the PN's Shadow Minister for Finance, stated that while Malta is not facing cost-of-living struggles as dire as our European counterparts, the Maltese islands' traffic problem is dire enough that Caruana still hasn't given his blessing for the government's mass transit plan, including the envisioned metro, to go ahead, while the country's population is set to continue increasing over the coming years.
In response, Minister Caruana criticised that "every time [Delia] has the opportunity to speak about something, he speaks about everything under the sun besides national finances. So, I understand why people don't have faith in the Opposition being a credible alternative to handle national finances." He added that it is "a bit surreal" to hear the Opposition bring up other matters "in a bid to make us forget what is happening around us."
After mentioning that Italian mass transport employees are protesting because they cannot afford fuel prices and have since gone on strike till the Italian government responds, Caruana appealed for the PN parliamentary group to speak responsibly and stop trying to only win political points.
Government backbencher Anthony Agius Decelis later asked Minister Caruana to explain the significance behind Malta receiving an A+ credit rating by the credit agency Morningstar DBRS.
The Finance Minister said this "certificate" mean one thing: "peace of mind to our people, that all Maltese and Gozitans will not experience what other European citizens are experiencing now or what they will in the future."
He said that at the moment, the French government, for the first time, is paying higher interests than Malta is on bonds of 10 years or longer. "This means that the economic phase Europe is moving towards is one where government burdens will accelerate," he said.
"Governments that have poor fiscal management will soon pay the price, and that will fall on to common citizens," Minister Caruana said.
Caruana also stressed that he will be "dogmatic" about Malta's budget deficit remaining below the EU's stipulated 3% mark. He said that doing so grants Malta the financial flexibility it needs to handle its national finances without EU intervention, as EU financial rules state.
COLA would exceed €18 annually without energy subsidies, Caruana says
Finance Minister Caruana said that if the Maltese government was not providing its energy subsidies, COLA payments would exceed €18 each year and subsequently constrict employers across the country.
After government MP Rebecca Buttigieg asked what the national impact would be if Malta had to reduce or remove its energy subsidies, Minister Caruana likened it to letting a hospital patient with a nasty wound bleed out.
He said that without energy subsidies in place, COLA payments would skyrocket and result in a 6% decrease in disposable income nationwide. Hence, he said that employers around the country would greatly struggle to cope in such a situation.
He added that "this is not a sprint, this is a marathon," and Malta will continue figuratively controlling its breath without placing financial burdens on the people, "unlike what others did in the past."