A vision for Gozo
Many see Gozo as a beautiful place where to escape the hustle and bustle. However, while this is true, there is another reality.
When we joined the EU, Malta’s GDP per capita was 82% of the EU’s, rising to 86% by 2012. In Gozo, GDP per capita fell from 56% to 50%. Gozo was gradually losing pace with Malta.
Under previous administrations, Gozo was cut off and existing business withered. Eurostat data show the value added of the professional, scientific and technical services sector in Gozo stood at €16.3 million in 2008. By 2012 it shrunk to €12.6 million. That of the information and communication sector shrunk from €11.8 million to €6.7 million in 2012. Manufacturing fell from €27.4 million to €22.7 million. The arts, entertainment and recreation sector fell from €8.4 million to €8.3 million.
Gozo was kept going by an ever-growing injection of public money. The public administration sector grew from €70 million in 2008 to €83 million in 2012. The public sector accounted for virtually all employment growth. In 2012 there was an increase of 201 Gozitans working, of which 123 were in public administration. Gozo’s unemployment rate was nearly double that in Malta, with 742 persons on the register. The number of new businesses in 2012, 207, was exceeded by those closing, 236. The number of people crossing to Gozo fell by 32,000.
The way the PN administered Gozo led to this. It allowed Gozo to become the fiefdom of a particular MP whose only interest was to make people dependent on favours.
Gozo needed change. The last election was a rout for the PN in Gozo. Labour got 21% more votes than in 2008.
Joseph Muscat delivered on his promise to change Gozo. Today less than 500 Gozitans register for work, the lowest number since the 1960s. 1,500 more Gozitans are working. Whereas in 2012 more firms were closing than opening, today for every business that closes two are opening. The number of persons crossing to Gozo last year rose by 400,000.
Gozo’s GDP per capita is now 54% the EU’s, reversing the previous decade’s drop. Gozo’s GDP is growing ten times faster than in 2012. Gozo’s private sector is getting back in business. Manufacturing’s value added has grown from €22.7 million to €26.6 million. That of information and communication is up to €13.3 million from €6.7 million in 2012. Professional, scientific and technical services account for €22.2 million, up from €12.6 million. The arts, entertainment and recreation sector is up to €11.7 million.
Joseph Muscat’s administration has undone the mistakes of previous legislatures. Instead of treating Gozo as a backwater, we have seen Gozo as the best economic opportunity for our country. We have attracted new companies in new sectors, such as RS2. We have attracted big films to Gozo to showcase it to the world. We improved Gozo’s infrastructure, spending twice as much as the previous administration on roads, and completing the restoration of heritage sites, like Ggantija and the Cittadella.
Does this mean that Gozitans should vote for Joseph Muscat to thank him for keeping his promises? No, they should vote for him for what he will deliver in the next five years.
Simon Busuttil has published a glossy document with a hundred ‘new’ proposals for Gozo. Half are promises to do what Joseph Muscat has already completed or started to deliver, while the rest are promises to create a countless list of funds and foundations but without any financial commitments. Gozitans do not need handouts. They need economic progress.
Gozitans want Gozo to become the medical hub of the Mediterranean, with a world class medical school and public hospital. Gozitans want the €200 million foreign investment that will create thousands of jobs and generate tens of millions in revenue. That investment that Simon Busuttil wants to destroy for his inexplicable reasons.
Gozitans do not want a return to the past where they are dependent on the largesse of a PN Minister who disburses work to whoever promises to vote for them. Gozitans want the second fibre-optic cable and the digital creativity hub that will make Gozo a centre for new industries. Gozitans do not want the transfer of a branch of agencies in Malta where the selected few are employed. Gozitans want private firms to continue coming to invest in Gozo thanks to the incentives that Labour administration will offer.
Gozitans do not want vague promises that Simon Busuttil and his predecessors made time and again but never delivered. Gozitans want a Government that delivers what it promises. This is why on the 3rd June Gozitans will vote to get the best tomorrow for our country.