Promises a ‘new While people are left l not stop fighting’
the side – perhaps in favour of economic growth – in recent years.
He sifted through the measures pertaining to properties in Urban Conservation Areas announced by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana in his Budget speech, and said that he would open the tax incentives which were set out for UCA properties to all properties and not limit them to those which had been vacant for 7 years.
It’s a point which was contested from the other side of the house. “Don’t go red, come on,” Abela said, chiding his political counterpart. “Your problem is that you didn’t read the budget, and you read only what they told you to say,” he continued.
He reiterated what was the government’s keynote environmental measure; the planting of over 50,000 trees in Inwadar for the creation of a new national park the size of Buskett.
Abela continued by saying that the PN has no credentials on the environment, mentioning the infamous 2006 rationalisation exercise as an example.
“The person closest to you… back then he was George Pullicino’s right-hand man, and now he is yours. With a stroke of a pen – and one which we can discuss in peace and quiet to understand the motives of how it was done – ODZ land the size of Siggiewi was made developable, and are today apartment blocks,” he said as an example of how the PN lacks environmental credibility.
Speaking about the proposal for a metro – which was announced before the Budget – Abela said that a discussion had started on the country’s transportation future, and on concepts such as land reclamation – something he said that he believes has to happen “today before tomorrow.”
Abela was here heckled with remarks about the government’s debts, to which he responded: “If you want to talk about debt, we can speak about the €4 million owed to ARMS by the PN”, citing the PN’s well-documented financial troubles.
Abela admitted that they may have been over-confident at times with economic measures, but noted that he did not want the country to revert back to the situation it was in in 2013.
Turning to the PN’s criticism that Gozo had been forgotten in the Budget, Abela said that Gozo is at the “heart of every decision we take – not like you, where you’d leave it to the last chapter of the Budget. Gozo is there at the beginning and end of every decision we take,” he said.
“We have already said that Gozo is going to be the pioneer for the major changes we want to make – it will be the digital heart and environmental heart of our country”, Abela said, noting that Gozo had been given a record allocation of funds – the biggest increase out of any sector.
“Your immediate reaction to the Budget was to put up a billboard to say that the country was in the biggest recession in history,” Abela began.
“So, if you’re right, how do you explain that in your time – when the economy was supposedly better – you didn’t do anything besides increasing electricity bills, fuel prices, and increasing the country’s deficit and national debt?”, he questioned, to hearty tablebanging from his colleagues.
“So the natural conclusion is that you’re either not saying the truth in saying that this is the biggest recession ever, or that you were completely incompetent in leading this country… and quite frankly I think that both are true,” Abela said.
He said that the reality around Malta is that the cost of living is increasing. In one neighbouring country, he said, electricity bills are set to rise by 30%. And yet, the government had chosen not to increase any bills or taxes.
The PN would – like it had done in the past – have increased the prices like everyone else is around the world, Abela said.
Now, Malta has the lowest electricity bills in the Eurozone, Abela said, quoting Eurostat, despite the Opposition saying that the country is following a failed system on this sector.
It’s the same story for fuel, according to Abela, as he went on to elaborate at how fuel prices had gone up everywhere besides Malta.
“Had they been governing, they’d have chosen the easiest road: increasing the prices for everyone,” he said of the PN, using the opportunity to say that not only was the government not increasing fuel prices, but it was making public transport free for everyone.
Abela said he believed that the government had done everything possible for the benefit of the people, noting that they had spent €70 million a month on the wage supplement – money which other countries had also spent but which they were now asking to be repaid.
Instead, the Labour government had given the country another budget without tax increases, Abela said before adding that they had even created new schemes so that businesses are encouraging to invest.
Furthermore, he said, Malta now has the lowest unemployment rate in its history.
Abela said that upskilling and digitisation are now key areas which need to be worked on in order for the country to achieve greatness, which is why the government had invested in education, apprenticeships and in students in the Budget.
Turning to the raft of social measures introduced in the Budget, Abela said that the government will not rest on its laurels.
“While there is one person who needs help, we will keep fighting. We have made mistakes like everyone else have, but we have never left anyone to fend for himself,” he said.
Abela said that he wanted to see a Malta which is just from every aspect, where everyone has the opportunity to move forward.
“You will always find those who tell you that you will move forward depending on who you know, not what you know. That’s it’s a cultural thing in the Mediterranean. I disagree,” he said, before advocating for a sense of fairness to be one of the core principles for the country.
He said that the country’s institutions are ready to rise to the occasion, and that in less than two years a “revolution” had been undertaken in good governance.
Despite the Opposition’s scaremongering about the country losing investment, Abela said that this had not been the case.
Moving onto the matter of the country’s FATF grey-listing, Abela said that he would not be drawn into making “infantile and irresponsible declarations” such as saying that Malta would emerge from the grey-list in 90 days, as the PN had promised.
He said, after chastising the Opposition for “ridiculing” the issue with its comments in the House, that licenses had been given to 12 iGaming and 15 financial services companies since the country’s grey-listing.
Coming to a conclusion, Abela said that he would look to fiscal morality – a subject he said would be an uncomfortable listen for PN leader Grech, a reference to his welldocumented issues with the taxman in the run-up to his election as Nationalist leader last year.
While promising that there would be no “witch-hunts”, Abela said that Grech – whom he described as a “serial tax evader” – had no authority to speak about this subject.
With time not on his side as his speech came to an end, Abela ran through a number of other measures, while also mentioning the country’s Recovery and Resilience plan, which he said that Ursula von der Leyen described as one of the “greenest plans we have”.
Abela said that he wanted to leave a country which was fairer than what he found, something which had to be done together. He said that the country has challenges which could either create a ton of new opportunities, or could result in the collapse of the country’s good work.
“Since what we mentioned today is wasted money for the PN today, nothing can be taken for granted. The choice of whether this Budget is carried out or not is in the hands of the people,” Abela said referring to the upcoming general election, whenever it may be in the coming months.
He called on people to come forward and offer what they could to the country.
“With us you know where we are. With this Budget we showed who we care about,” he said as he again trumped up the Budget measures, saying that Malta can be an example of dynamicism, justice, and sustainability.