The government is failing to adequately invest in the future and is wasting taxpayer money on ongoing subsidies, ADPD chair Sandra Gauci said on Saturday.
She was reacting to the government's announcement that it would continue funding energy subsidies during the reading of the budget, which were introduced to stave off pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
During a press conference in Valletta, Gauci said that the government is failing to provide financial security for future generations if it continues to subsidise energy as national debt continues to mount.
"Borrowing for recurrent expenses and borrowing to spend money to purchase foreign-sourced resources is simply an economic loss for the country," Gauci said.
"The Finance Minister has told us that our national debt has gone up another €1 billion, and by the end of 2025 it will be close to €12 billion."
This, she said, is more egregious in light of the fact that Malta makes seldom investment in renewable energy.
"We have wasted hundreds of millions of euros on roads and flyovers which have not solved any traffic problems. We have not seen investment in public transport, such as our proposal for a Bus Rapid Transit system, that reserves whole routes on roads for the exclusive passage of public transport. And in spite of this huge debt, we remain a country heavily dependent on fossil fuels," she said.
She said that while amendments to income tax brackets may be helpful to low-income earners, the most ideal reform would be to establish a living wage through which all can live in dignity.
Given the current levels of debt, Gauci said she expected the government to increase its efforts at collecting unpaid tax and tax reform in other sectors, particularly those who received subsidies during the pandemic and still turned a healthy profit.
In light of the ever-growing devastating effects of climate change, Gauci said the government should look to polluting activities to generate more revenue, including closing capital gains tax loopholes and taxing the use of private jets and yachts.
ADPD secretary general Ralph Cassar said that while it is positive that the government has slashed energy subsidies, there has been no real leap in quality in the energy sector.
"These massive amounts of blanket subsidies – for sectors which are wasteful, for those who use energy efficiently and those who don’t care alike – means that resources were diverted from the necessary investment in important sectors and from investment in the future," Cassar said.
"In spite of the massive debt we have remained one of the laggards in renewable energy in the EU. The truth is that the government has no other choice and must find the money to invest hundreds of millions in renewable sources of energy. We cannot afford to be left behind. We cannot afford to literally burn away money and export money out of the country.”
Expressing solidarity for the victims of flooding in Spain, Cassar said cataclysmic events such as these are a stark reminder of the importance of moving away from fossil fuels.
"We too have to be prepared for these eventualities, even by investing in the future, to mitigate the effects of climate change. We are already seeing a prolonged period of drought in Malta, other extreme events are a possibility," he continued.
"Token measures are not enough. This is why we insist that public debt must be reined in. We need sustainable borrowing for investment in the economy of the future, a zero-carbon economy."