Writing in the Times of Malta about Budget 2022, which includes the largest-ever allocation for Gozo, Chris Said, the Nationalist Party’s Gozo spokesperson, stated that, in the PN’s view, Gozo is an island left waiting.
This prompts the question that, if this were the case, why has Gozo chosen the Labour Party again and again over the past years?
Could it be that Gozitans remember the Nationalist government’s inaction and lack of vision? And, let’s not forget that Said was an integral part of that GonziPN administration, which used to state that Gozo was “theirs”. The same administration where facts show that it had left Gozo waiting.
Eurostat data indicate that GDP per capita in Gozo was 57 per cent of the EU average prior to the 2003 election and, by the 2013 election, it had collapsed to just 51 per cent. Before the 2003 election, 467 Gozitans were registering for work. This number rose to 742 before the 2013 election. A shocking and worrying rise of 59 per cent.
Due to a tired administration, EU membership unfortunately did not enhance the island’s prosperity. Rather, Gozo ended up losing ground and an increasing number of Gozitans ended up unemployed. As a result, Gozitans were negatively impacted financially and many were leaving the island in search of better opportunities.
The Labour government’s focus, on the other hand, is to deliver the vision and future that Gozitans want for their island. In fact, it was under a Labour administration that Gozo started to find its rightful place. In the year before the pandemic, GDP per capita had not just returned to the relative position it had been before EU accession but had reached a new historical high at two-thirds of the EU average.
It was indeed extraordinary how, within just seven years, Gozo rose from half to two-thirds of the EU average. And it is based on these positive and encouraging results that Prime Minister Robert Abela is promising that Gozo, like Malta, will exceed the EU average.
Said, however, paints a picture that Gozitans were better off in 2012 than they are today. Let us revisit some facts.
The average disposable income in Gozo currently stands at €26,034. When Said was a member of Cabinet it stood at €20,618, equivalent to 21 per cent less than what it is today. At the same time, 16 per cent of the population was at risk of poverty, the same percentage as in Malta. This has now gone down to 14 per cent, with only Malta’s Western region having a lower poverty rate than Gozo.
When Said speaks of Gozitans being better off under a Nationalist government, he must be forgetting the 742 unemployed that he and his government left behind. Today, despite concerns that the pandemic was expected to devastate Gozo’s tourism sector, the number of persons unemployed stands at 113.
For every seven people that were seeking employment in 2012, there is just one today with the rise in employment being predominantly in the private sector and not in the public sector, as the opposition wrongfully states.
Gozo is no longer a backwater: it is now an economic motor in its own right- Clint Camilleri
Gozo is no longer a backwater: it is now an economic motor in its own right. During this legislature, the Gozitan economy has grown at such an accelerated rate that the conversation has shifted from concerns of unemployment to Gozitan firms exploring different avenues to attract more workers.
Since 2013, the number of Gozitan residents in employment increased by nearly 5,250, of whom 30 per cent are in professional and administrative services, a testament to the highly educated nature of the Gozitan workforce. Private sector employment in Gozo grew by 72 per cent, as against 54 per cent in Malta.
But economic prosperity is not the be-all and end-all.
Gozo will be at the forefront of our digital and green transformation. In fact, for the first time, Gozo is now able to generate its own water needs by means of advanced technology. The same will apply for energy, through the use of renewable energy sources.
Gozo will also be at the forefront of the electrification of transportation.
With its second fibre optic cable, Gozo will continue to drive digitalisation.
We will continue to invest in our infrastructure to solve problems that have been with us for decades while delivering projects that are crucial for the well-being of the Gozitan community. These include the aquatic centre and new environmental projects such as that in Qortin, where a landfill that has been permanently closed is being converted into an open space for residents and visitors to enjoy.
Therefore, with the above in mind, it is no coincidence or surprise that Gozitans have put their trust in a Labour government.
Yet, we will not take this trust for granted. We will work even harder by proposing new projects, launching new initiatives and, above all, remaining close to our people.
This is why Gozo will continue to embrace our vision of a new prosperity.
Clint Camilleri, Gozo Minister