Economy's recovery 'reflects progress towards accession'

The economy has started to recover and GDP is expected to grow by some three per cent by the end of the year, the prime minister said yesterday.

Dr Fenech Adami said that in view of the negative growth last year - mainly reflecting the performance of the largest company in the electronics sector - the growth in the economy this year was quite acceptable.

The prime minister told a press conference that when assessing the performance of the local economy one also had to keep in mind the crisis of the world economy and the devastating impact of the September 11 events.

Despite all the hurdles, the number of gainfully occupied had risen by 3,500 since 1998 and the number of those registering for work was down.

The prime minister underlined the work put in by the government to prepare Malta for EU membership. He recalled that the position when the government took office in 1998 was that Malta's membership application was frozen. "Now we have reached a point where our accession is certain. There is nothing which can stop Malta becoming a member of the EU except if the people decide otherwise in the referendum."

The fact that Malta's EU accession process has gained such momentum was also having a positive effect on the economic performance. Membership preparations had helped the government and the private sector to focus on the restructuring process and the changes needed to modernise the country.

Dr Fenech Adami expressed satisfaction that the economic operators in the country, including the private sector, had taken on board the concept of restructuring and were doing their utmost to improve their operations.

Referring to the decision taken by the court to allow the Nationalist Party to air spots on state television, Dr Fenech Adami said he was satisfied with the outcome of the decision, although it was still up for appeal.

He said that Malta's EU membership should continue to be debated democratically and everyone should have the right to hear both sides of the coin before taking a decision.

Foreign Minister Joe Borg, who also addressed the press conference, said the government had sought to achieve the best conditions for Malta: "The civil service and various other bodies were fully engaged in preparing for accession as well as negotiating hard to get the right package for this country. Now that the negotiations are almost over, I can reaffirm my conviction that we managed to make significant achievements in the negotiations, including unprecedented deals on the acquisition of property by foreigners, safeguards on the free movement of workers and deals regarding the environmental sector."

Dr Borg said the 10 acceding countries, including Malta, were focusing their attention on concluding talks on agriculture and the financial package for the first years after accession.

On the outstanding issues, Dr Borg said that the absolute deadline was the Copenhagen summit due in mid-December. The government was working hard to conclude negotiations on taxation and agriculture by the end of this month.

In a reaction to the press conference the Labour Party said the prime minister has confirmed this was a tired government which was not interested in solving the huge problems of the Maltese people but only obsessed with EU membership.