Representatives of trade unions and employer associations are this morning meeting Finance Minister Edward Scicluna at the first in a series of consultation meetings on the Budget.

Prof. Scicluna kicked off the meeting with a brief presentation on the pre-Budget document issued last month but told the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development he wanted to listen to the views of the social partners.

The meeting at the Public Consultation Ministry in Valletta started on a light but significant note with MCESD chairman John Bencini saying that council meetings will be held at the ministry as a cost cutting measure. They used to be held in a hotel.

It was a comment Prof. Scicluna picked on, telling the social partners that he was instructed to press the computer buttons for his power point presentation himself. "I don't know if this was also part of the cost cutting exercise," he said with a smile.

But Prof. Scicluna did not let this gesture pass by using it as an example of spending reviews the Government wanted to conduct in various areas of operation. "There is no better time to have a new Government then now because it helps us look at things from a different perspective and this helps us save money and increase efficiency by changing the way things have always been done."

He said the ministry was working on the Government's commitment to have free child care facilities and noted that an important element to improve education levels was to have children spend more time at school.

"It is not easy because we also have to understand why children leave the education system early," he said, adding this did not mean teachers had to be at school between 7am and 7pm. "If supermarkets found solutions to open on Sundays as well, we can also find solutions."

Prof. Scicluna reiterated that the Auditor General will this year be tasked to analyse the the Government's budgetary projections but the creation of a fiscal council will be discussed at the MCSED.

As is customary, journalists were only allowed in for the minister's presentation.