Prime Minister confirms plans for Covid-19 vouchers still on

Prime Minister Robert Abela has confirmed that plans for Covid19 vouchers are still on, but they will be distributed within a timeline that respects what the health authorities have to say.

“We gave our word, and this government keeps its promises, despite what others are trying to indicate,” Abela said during a political gathering on Sunday, referring to the comments he has received from the PN on whether the Covid-19 vouchers will actually be distributed considering that they were set to be released in January.

Throughout his speech, Abela emphasised on the need for unity during these challenging times caused by the pandemic.

“Political colours make no difference to me,” he said, emphasising that partisanship should not derail politicians from carrying out their duties, and this cannot be a message that emerges solely when elections are around the corner, but throughout the entire legislature.

He said that politicians are not there to be served by the people; “they are servants of the people and this pandemic has been given a valuable lesson about the importance of solidarity.”

Speaking about the new Covid19 restrictions announced last Wednesday, he said that they were based on an analysis of what happened in December and the start of January. The government sought to strike a balance between maintaining people’s sense of hope and quality of life and the importance of not having history repeat itself as Carnival season draws near.

While comparing Malta’s Covid19 situation with other countries abroad, he said that “we are living in heaven at the moment.”

“We have stabilised the health situation and we are at the forefront in the rate of vaccination roll-out in the world. Thus, we have to keep looking forward with positivity,” he said.

He also noted the costs that Malta has suffered and has yet to suffer as well as the accumulative pressures that businesses have experienced over the past year.

“Thankfully, we have been able to stabilise this situation as well thanks to the EU funds deal we managed to strike and the Individual Investors’ Programme which has cushioned the impact.”

He remarked that the issue now is on the position that parliament holds on the revision of the programme and he invited the opposition to unite with the government on promoting this programme which will benefit Malta a lot.

“We have increased scrutiny and due diligence; one only needs to look at all the applications we refuse. We have to approach the EU Commission with one voice and convince them that this programme respects the values of the EU. We have to untie as Team Malta in this, so we stick to a convergent kind of politics.”

Abela also called for unity with regards to Malta reaching the best standards in the EU. “For this to happen, we cannot think in blue and red. Internationally they refer to us as Malta not Labour or Nationalist.”

He spoke of the upcoming Moneyval evaluation in the coming months which will assess the progress that the government and its entities have made in addressing the issues the Moneyval report flagged over the years.

He said that Malta now understands the need to put resources into core entitized like the FIAU to operate in the best and most organised manner; “a modern EU state has to increase its quality by increasing its standards.”

Abela explained that Malta does not deserve another negative Moneyval report and this is why it is important for everyone to unite and praise the changes that the country has experienced in the past years which are not the government’s merit but the merit of the entire country.

Nonetheless, he said that while he is confident that the government has achieved what was required to better the country’s standards, “we need to tackle this situation as one team.”

“As the elections come closer, we will have different ideas for the vision of our country but let’s not show division for things that affect the country collectively.”

One more issue he believes that Malta should unite on is immigration saying that he is not the only person saying that Malta is full up as this is also the call of the people who live in areas where most immigrants reside.

“We have work on limiting returns but also on relocation as well as the return of those who do not have a right for asylum. This subject will be going into to the top of the priority list once this pandemic subsides, alongside the other topics mentioned here.”

‘The time has come for better salaries’ – Finance Minister

During his short address, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana commented on consultation process that the government started with businesses in order to work on a plan of action that will carry Malta into the next 7 years.

“During this process we will acknowledge the good that we have done and also the bad and see how we can fix that side of things,” he said, noting that the time has come for Malta’s market to offer better salaries.

“I understand the realities of businesses wherein salaries can only rise if productivity rises with it as salaries need to be sustained somehow. Thus, we have to make sure that the way forward is based on a balance between employer and employee.”