Small businesses are indeed faring well

In the last four-and-a-half years, we have faced all sorts of criticism, false comparisons and naive declarations – mostly from the Opposition. We have heard Dr Muscat say that Spain’s former leader of the Socialist Workers’ Party and former Prime Minister, Don Jose Luis Zapatero, is a role model of his. Today, as a result of Zapatero’s political decisions, the level of unemployment in Spain has risen to 25 per cent, a quarter of the population. We also remember when Dr Muscat advised the Prime Minister that we should model our economy on Cyprus. Today, Cyprus is considering a bail out from the EU. Following last year’s budget, Dr Muscat made 30 false promises, amongst which he assured everybody that he would be safe for the self-employed. This is the clearest indication that the self-employed do not perceive Labour’s policies as being positive.

A couple of days ago I participated in the TV Show TVAM, in which I have announced the introduction of new and radical business regulations that will come into effect on 1 November. I must con- fess that I was bewildered by the declaration of a Labour candidate who first said that people are opting to register new businesses in their names since there was no work and then, only moments later during the same programme, said that we have a high level of employment since Maltese people are very hardworking!

We are presented with a very clear picture: Labour won’t work and it is evident that the Opposition offers no ideas, and has no vision or policies of substance. It is doing what it does best: sitting and doing nothing! The government, on the other hand, is constantly introducing excellent economic measures and initiatives for small businesses, not only to enable them to survive the turbulent economic times that the whole world has encountered, but also to thrive and succeed in their enterprise.

It comes as no surprise that the latest report issued by the European Commission shows Malta as being one of only three member states where the small and medium sector has not only weathered the financial storm of the last few years, but has actually fared better than it did back in 2008. The same report also indicates that these businesses will continue to weather the crisis well until the end of 2012.

We want businesses to succeed – not only for their own good, but also because we really want them to generate profits, be successful, employ more people and generate economic growth. We are succeeding in doing this because we have always been a government with a timely vision and have introduced successful schemes that have proved to be not only life-saving ideas but also impressive investment tools that have been appealing and well met at the same time.

The Commission’s report also state: “Even the sharp and sudden downturn in employment and turnover immediately after the outbreak of the crises in 2009, that occurred in most of the other EU member states, is hardly visible in Malta’s SME statistics.” These are the results that small businesses are really looking for. This is proof that, in fact, the PN in Government has created a safe environment for business to flourish. It is only a gamble for those working in this sector to try another option that has simply failed in the past. Only a PN government assures that businesses can continue to prosper and fare well.

Dr Azzopardi is Minister for Competition, Small Business and

Consumers