Four years later

Four years ago, the new Government was sworn in just ahead of a Victory Day mass meeting organised by the Nationalist Party after being returned to power. The people had two years earlier decided to try out Dr Alfred Sant as prime minister but realised that he was running the country down as a result of persisting in adopting the wrong policies.

It is not as though there are no further challenges pending ahead of us. In fact there are many and the success achieved in any field only spells out the need to address other areas.

Nonetheless, four years later, we can claim, with satisfaction, that we have managed to reverse negative trends and place the country on the right path.

One of the most important trends that has been reversed in these past four years regards employment. The 1996-1998 Labour administration had shown us again what the unemployment spectre is all about. Jobs were lost and the economy was not churning out new employment.

As the Prime Minister pointed out in his interview with The Times carried last Thursday, when one compares the number of registered unemployed between December 1998 and the last week of August, one notices a drop of 689 persons registering for work.

The pro-Labour media try to make a meal out of the figure of 'unemployed' persons resulting from the Labour Force Survey. The latter, an initiative of the present Government, cannot be compared with that resulting from the ETC figure of unemployment that is based on a precise headcount of persons actually registering for work.

Moreover, the survey comprises a wider spectrum of the population since it extends to persons aged from 15 to 64, despite the fact that you cannot work at the age of 15 and by the time you're 64, you already would have been receiving your State pension for three years!

The fundamental rule when one desires to make objective commentaries is that one can only compare apples with apples. If the pro-Labour media are impressed by the Labour Force Survey estimate of persons seeking employment, they only have to extrapolate what the figure stood at during Labour's term in office when the economy was stagnant, the number of persons registering for work was higher by around 700, and jobs were being lost rather than created.

In contrast to Labour's failure, the number of employed persons has over the past four years risen by over 3,500 persons.

If rising unemployment was Labour's worst failure in office, its budgetary measures came a close second. We had as a nation become brainwashed with the notion that there was in office a modern and efficient government seeking to tackle the deficit 'hole'.

It did not take the people long to realise that the hole was only getting deeper and wider, reaching a record national deficit of Lm150 million. That happened despite a spate of new taxes and much higher utility bills.

That trend has also been reversed and Government is beyond what it promised the electorate it would achieve when it published consolidated accounts that made specific forecasts and commitments for the six years to follow, immediately that the new Nationalist Government assumed office four years ago.

Fiscal policy is another disaster area for Labour. Despite being advised not to dismantle VAT and ruin the country's economy in the process, Dr Sant as Prime Minister prodded on, regardless.

VAT was substituted by CET following a number of 'go as you please' and 'à la carte' meetings with different representatives of different business interests who would raise queries and as a result the law in formation would be adjusted accordingly. Now we know that the Labour Government had lost its own Finance Minister because of its fiscal policies.

Four years later, we can confidently talk of a fiscal policy that has again been placed on the right track. Although Labour is still non-committal, one may well expect a somersault on its previous anti-VAT policies as the next general election draws closer. Yet Dr Sant prefers to act in a totally undecided manner when referring to this issue.

Another major achievement in the past four years is the fact that the present government has managed to change around a total freeze situation with regard to our application to join the European Union into a highly dynamic and proactive negotiation process that has placed Malta in pole position to join the Union when the next enlargement comes about.

The decision to reactivate our application to join the EU has not been taken as an end in its own right or because of the EU but as a means towards securing the quality of life and the leaps forward that our country deserves. It is a decision taken squarely and simply in the national interest.

Pursuing EU goals means pursuing the targets that make sense for Malta, that open up remarkable opportunities for present and future generations, and anchor our country's future where it belongs.

Be it in establishing new markets, employment opportunities, restructuring of our industry, cross frontier educational and cultural openings, a healthier environment and generally to create more prosperity, the choice for the EU is a choice for Malta. It is what suits us best. It is what we deserve and need in our own interest. We are doing it for our sake as a Maltese people.

Labour's two years in office prove more eloquently than any statement that we can make ourselves that there is no such thing as a "special relationship with the European Union". There is only membership or non-membership. This is the ultimate historical choice that the people are expected to make in the coming months.

Four years ago, the straw that broke the camel's back with Labour was the Cottonera project contract. That Government had fissures and cracks in all policy areas that matter, be it its social, fiscal, budgetary or foreign policy areas.

Hence the vote over the Cottonera project where Labour was persisting with its particular contract is more of a catalyst of the subsequent change of Government than the actual cause.

Even if we do go, however, by the yardstick of capital projects, the past four years make us proud. The Cottonera project has got off the ground and we can expect further developments in the coming months.

The Manoel Island and Tigné development project, a national dream for at least the past 40 years, is moving according to schedule and agreed timeframes. Only this past week, together with my colleague Censu Galea, I had occasion to inaugurate a new yacht marina that forms part of this project.

In the meantime, a new Cruise Liner Passenger Terminal will be taking shape, as the necessary infrastructure is being laid out for the purpose. Already a visit to Pinto Wharf reveals how the consortium chosen by Government to do this project has practically completed the building that will be used by third parties that had business concerns in the area and will now move to the new building ahead of other works that are required to make way for the new terminal building and related facilities.

This is a far cry from when Dr Sant used to proclaim that a project has kicked off ('telaq!') merely because he would have announced it! Projects are now being implemented since the present government negotiated the relevant contracts in all their intricate details, handled third-party vacant possession issues which meant countless hours of negotiations with affected individuals and entities, provided the infrastructural backup, created project management structures and keeps in regular contact with all consortia to act as facilitator as difficulties to be resolved or further opportunities to be explored arise regularly.

Handling capital projects with the private sector has not deterred us from seeing to ambitious embellishment projects which we have delivered on our own as a Government. In particular the Sliema and St Julian's promenades, apart from carrying on further works in Birzebbuga, Marsascala and Marsaxlokk, come to mind.

Only this past week, barely three months since the inauguration of the Sliema promenade, my Ministry put up an evening of international music near the White Shadows sculpture with the participation of Marie-Therese Vassallo and her voice studio.

Adding a cultural touch to such projects brings home the fact that hubs of human activity and interaction are being created in this process.

Four years after being sworn in as ministers, our prime satisfaction remains that of being of service to our clients - to the people of Malta. Equally we look ahead to the further challenges that lie ahead.