Bernard Grech slams ‘virtual reality’ budget
Opposition leader Bernard Grech deemed Budget 2021 as a “virtual reality” budget as it does not address certain pressing issues, leaves out certain sectors or makes false promises and claims.
Grech gave his reply to the budget speech in Parliament on Monday. “This year, the government told us this is the best budget in the history of Malta but the reality is that there were a lot of reports that doubted its practicality. With displeasure, you start realising that there is no competence in our leadership despite all its bells and whistles,” Grech said.
Grech noted that it is incredible how this budget did not acknowledge the efforts made by the frontliners of overcoming the pandemic’s challenges.
He made a number of proposals for the PM, starting by no longer ignoring all the advice of public health officials who are publicly announcing that they are being sidelined, and the setting up of a National Supervisory Committee, composed of medical experts from all fields with representatives of the Government and the Opposition to monitor the advice that is being given.
The PM should also direct every person in the public sector who can work through remote working to do so with immediate effect, and promptly introduce incentives for private sector workers to follow suit.
“The aid granted to purchase the required equipment was good but now we must take the next step and incentivise this type of work as an absolute priority.”
Enforcement should be strengthened further and the authorities should prevent loopholes from dismantling collective efforts. Within this context, the government must show more support to those establishments, such as bars and clubs that are suffering the impact of these measures by providing greater compensation for the loss of employment as an impact of the measures implemented, Grech noted.
The Opposition leader also called for a full testing regime for anyone who comes to Malta from abroad through mandatory rapid testing in all points of entry of the country, not just at the airport. Additionally, he called for a better Trace, Test, Isolate system by incentivising places such as schools, local councils, and workplaces to do large-scale testing.
A supplementary voucher should also be added, specifically assigned for the purchase of masks, sanitisers, and everything that can be used to prevent in order to alleviate the burden of these costs.
Turning to finances, Grech insisted that the deficit next year will be much higher than the €800 million the government is predicting.
“This Government's economy was built on a model of key economic steroids including: the IIP (passport sales scheme), declining quality tourism; importation of labour and pressure on wages especially of handywork; unrestrained development; overconsumption driven by these aspects.”
The political situation in Malta, its institutions, political, legal and regulatory transparency, which until recently were key reasons for Malta’s attractiveness, are now seen as negative reasons why foreign investors should not come to Malta, Grech continued.
He said that, regardless of what comes out from the Moneyval report, the harm to our country has already been done.
He also called out Finance Minister Edward Scicluna on the fact that despite this being his 9th budget, it is filled with proposals that have been recycled for years, such as the construction of social housing, restoration initiatives and more investment in Asset Recovery Beurea; the latter being announced in 2015.
Grech said Gozo was completely forgotten in the budget, as were the education, cultural and creative sectors.
“We have heard a lot of boating about the green economy, but even here, incompetence stands out,” he continued.
On migration, Grech said the government sounds like a broken record. “The issue of immigration must be solved with credible work on various fronts. First of all, we must have a credible and influential government across EU and international fronts to convince other governments to share this burden with us. This happened until a few years ago when we had countries that regularly took immigrants and relocate them to their home country. Today we have a Government that has lost its credibility and political influence and this is also reflected in the issue of immigration.”