Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech called on the Nationalist Opposition to leave “unnecessary piques” behind as the best results for Malta, which were the Government’s foremost priority, could only be achieved when everyone worked together.
Speaking at the end of the 24-hour budget debate, Mr Grech said the Government was striving to bring more sense to public finances while addressing the debt issue. It was crucial that investors found that Malta was safe and good for investment. Government policy aimed at creating activities which brought high value added to the financial and manufacturing sectors.
The country, he said, needed more projects similar to BioMalta. It had to ensure that the Smart City project succeeded while attracting new maritime and aviation projects. A leap in productivity could be achieved through the upgrading of skills.
He said that he was meeting every minister and parliamentary secretary, who were drafting detailed action plans to be approved and implemented.
Mr Grech said many projects had become stagnant under the previous administration and some major projects were at risk of losing EU funds. These included the training aid framework, the new Mcast campus, the oncology centre and the December 13 road project. Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg was working to salvage these funds.
The Government had started the process of identifying projects to be considered under the 2014-2020 EU Budget. Work had also started on the 2017 EU presidency. Malta had to show that it was professionally committed to this presidency by working in synergy with the Opposition.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the previous government’s forecasts were wrong. The deficit amounted to 49 per cent more and the public debt was 40 per cent higher than forecast. There were other discrepancies in the November Budget, in which no funds had been allocated for collective agreements signed before the election.
The Opposition’s statements on the €66 million that Enemalta was supposed to have passed on to the Treasury were detrimental to the country, he charged.
Mr Grech also referred to the European Commission’s analysis on local banks, adding that this proved that speculation in the international media was totally false. The report confirmed the strength of the local banking system and that it had constant liquidity.