The new Administration’s business plans

There is in this an implicit criticism of the way Joseph Muscat led the island over the past years where he was perceived as being nearer big business. In fact, the small businesses had many criticisms to make in this regard and many of their complaints seemed to be mirrored in Dr Abela’s making his own the many times claimed inbuilt bias in favour of the foreign investor as against the local one.

One hesitates whether this is a new Administration or not, given that it is ‘only’ a change of prime minister and the accent has been, all through the election campaign, on ‘continuity’. But there has been a change in the atmosphere, plus some significant changes all through, so that the Administration may indeed be called a new one.

It is our plan today to speak on what the Robert Abela administration means for business. Both during the campaign and now in the first public speeches, Dr Abela has made it clear he wants his administration to be near the business sector but also near the citizens.

There is in this an implicit criticism of the way Joseph Muscat led the island over the past years where he was perceived as being nearer big business. In fact, the small businesses had many criticisms to make in this regard and many of their complaints seemed to be mirrored in Dr Abela’s making his own the many times claimed in-built bias in favour of the foreign investor as against the local one.

During the campaign, such language was condemned by none other than the Minister for Finance who defended the system as it was put in place by the Muscat administration.

Many of us thus expected either Minister Scicluna to refuse to join the Abela Cabinet or Dr Abela himself to choose someone else. But Minister Scicluna has been retained and the two sides now speak of a rapprochement of sorts even though the onus seems like joining a circle to a square.

On the other hand, of course, Minister Scicluna is by far one of the most experienced persons in the Cabinet and his presence on Ecofin, ECB and other top jobs in this important area cannot easily be replaced.

Nevertheless, the minister is also targeted by the civil society for having been one of the mainstays of the Muscat administration especially in that murky business that gave away Malta’s three hospitals for a pittance. There may be, there are already, court proceedings involving him.

The second person with a portfolio bearing on business is Minister Silvio Schembri who now replaces Minister Chris Cardona. We want to take some time to assess Minister Cardona. Apart from the wellknown issues regarding his personal life, Minister Cardona’s handling of his ministerial duties is praiseworthy. Like his predecessor John Attard Montalto, Chris Cardona made it a duty to visit and meet as many industrialists and entrepreneurs as possible. There is much that is happening in our factories and industries and Malta Enterprise is a good way to keep tabs in this regard.

Silvio Schembri comes from a different background. The past years saw him boosting the image of Malta as ‘blockchain island’ although the jury is still out on this as many allege it was more talk than action and we have missed the bus. The expected rush to Malta by blockchain industries did not materialise and as for gaming, his other responsibility, there has been much coming and going to be able to draw up a clear picture.

So, as it is, these very different persons, by character, background etc are being called to work together and keep Malta on the growth path that it has taken these past years under Dr Muscat.

At the same time, one must understand, doubt remains whether the passport sales venture will be allowed in the future. This is what mainly fuelled the growth in the past years.

Also, one remains in doubt whether the EU will at long last come together to draws up a single taxation regime that does away with Malta’s (and many other countries as well) advantage over other Member States.

Minister Scicluna Mark 1 kept the ship of state on an even keel and as a result Malta emerged from the deficit situation and made a surplus, the first in many many years. But the flip side to this is that wages remained low and so did pensions. Many migrants came to Malta to work for even cheaper wages. This is now promised to be changed – we will see whether this is so and what are the effects of it.

Both ministers must base their management of the economy on faith in the ability of the Maltese worker and entrepreneur to move ahead in face of so many difficulties.