What will Santa bring this year?

In a few hours’ time many of us will be glued to our television sets listening attentively to Finance Minister Edward Scicluna as he reads out the much-anticipated budget speech.

The government will surely include in a number of proposals that have been put forward by the social partners over the past few weeks, but Scicluna’s speech will likely also include many of the government’s own proposals.

There have been many valid and interesting proposals by the unions. One of the most hotly anticipated decisions is that about public holidays falling on weekends. The General Workers Union has been calling on the government to return these holidays as extra days of leave for close to a decade now. And the government has signaled that it will give them back sooner or later. The question is: will it be this year?

While we are not against the concept per se, one must also be careful and take heed of what employers are saying. They cannot bear the brunt of such a decision alone. A proposal that makes sense is one that is being put forward by UĦM-Voice of the Workers – giving workers a

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bonus instead of added leave.

There are many other interesting proposals, as highlighted in a story carried in this newspaper today. Another good one by UĦM proposes that all work contracts should be registered online, ensuring that employers do not abuse of workers’ conditions.

Equally important is a proposal by GWU for the government to really address the rising rents.

MEA has put forward some serious proposals on positions of trust, a hot topic over the last four years. Among other things, it is saying that MPs should not be given positions of trust.

The Chamber of Commerce is calling for a reduction of energy rates for businesses and it is also, together with GRTU, proposing facilitating the employment of third-country nationals.

These are all good proposals that should be included in next year’s budget, but there are other areas of concern that should be addressed.

The government has to tackle the issue of poverty. Even if the numbers have decreased – something that is debatable and subject to how one interprets data – they can never decrease enough.

Some drastic measures with regard to traffic are also warranted. Apart from leading to high levels of stress and frustration, traffic is a major obstacle for business. In a recent poll on The Malta Independent’s online portal, almost half of respondents said traffic was the main issue that should be tackled in the budget.

The government has often been criticised over the fact that it has not created any new economic sector. That criticism is mostly justified and the government has to show vision and tell us what new areas it will be exploring.

We also expect to see some concrete measures on the environment. A proposal by Nature Trust-FEE Malta to set up an Environmental Crime Police unit comes to mind.

Joseph Muscat yesterday also signaled that the government will increase the prices of soft drinks as part of a plastic bottle return scheme. While the concept is a positive one that promises to cut down on pollution, one has to see the nitty gritty details of how the scheme will actually work. Let us hope that it proves to be a success.