Sant confident common sense prevails on Malta’s taxation policy and financial services

The Head of the Labour Delegation at the European Parliament and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant said he is confident that common sense and goodwill will prevail on the proposal for tax harmonisation across all EU member states and on Malta’s financial services, Malta’s two main challenges in Europe during 2018 in a New Year’s message from the European Parliament.

“We should ensure that financial services are not and should not be subjected to unacceptable misuse. Those organisations that safeguard Malta’s financial services should be strengthened to protect them from any sort of abuse. Transparency is the best way of safeguarding our financial services. We should strive against European initiatives to harmonise taxation. In this sector, as well in other sectors, the one-sizefits-all policy does not benefit Malta. We should strive hard on the importance of transparency. Information on those paying taxes, and what they are paying, should be available without obstacles.”

Sant said that during 2017 Malta was entrusted with the Presidency of the EU which entailed the organisation of the work of the EU on a vast amount of subjects, including immigration which was of direct interest to us and other topics which did not interest us directly. The negotiations on Brexit started during Malta’s Presidency. Maltese representatives showed they were on the ball and guided the discussions and impressed in the way they conducted the decisions. This success was on political, diplomatic, technical and administrative matters.

“I must admit I never heard one word against the Maltese performance during those six months.”

While Malta’s EU Presidency enhanced our prestige, the negative campaigns against our country during the second half of the year impaired our reputation. The Nationalist Opposition exploited the uproar created by the Panama Papers scandal which rocked Europe. Serious, though unfounded allegations on corruption led to a general election in Malta which was won by the Labour Party by a larger majority.

“Instead of accepting electoral defeat and mounting a strategy that could win it the next general elections, the Nationalist Opposition – or part of it – harped on the themes that caused its electoral defeat. Then the news of the atrocious murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia reached all parts of Europe and tainted Malta’s fame.

“Among European quarters there already existed concerns that financial services in Malta served for money laundering, a claim which the Maltese authorities have always denied. This outcry served the cause among European states, especially the big ones, who have been persisting on the need for tax harmonisation. If this proposal goes through and Malta adjusts its taxation system to that of France and Germany, this would be a throwback for Malta.”