An economist has called for a pact between social partners and political parties to work together to improve family-friendly measures.

Joe Farrugia made the appeal during a panel discussion at FIDEM’s Women’s Day event called ‘Accelerate Action’.

Farrugia described his proposed social pact as “one where all social partners and political forces, not just the government and opposition, commit themselves to improving these issues”.

He criticised the current approach taken by political parties, arguing that their policies on family-friendly measures are designed primarily to compete for votes. One party could say they want to extend maternity leave to a year, for example, only for the other to propose extending it to 15 months the next day.

He called for a strategy that involves all the social partners and a commitment to specific targets to see what policy and actions are required. He also stressed the importance of monitoring the effectiveness of such policies, as a “much more mature way” of addressing the issue.

One of the opening speakers at the event, economist Marie Briguglio, emphasised importance of a well-defined vision with tangible goals and the need for clearly defined roles between different entities.

“The civil service needs to be much more joined up. Politicians need to be much less short term and populist... We need to have business on board. We need civil society, and we need to include this huge, new population as well,” she said.

She criticised the tendency to introduce short-term measures, and called for evidence-based, tried-and-tested solutions. It was important, she said, to have the humility to say what works and doesn’t, and to then make the necessary changes.