According to the government, over the last months, taxpayers paid hundreds of millions in aid to industry and employees to weather the COVID-19 crisis. Just up to a few weeks ago, we were generally satisfied with that financial outlay as we believed it was money well spent and a befitting response to the sacrifice made by the Maltese people in the containment of the virus.

The widespread sense of caution, discipline and compliance to the health authorities’ directives instilled a sense of pride in all of us, in a rare period of national cohesion and unity.

However, the greed machine fuelled by the avaricious lot pressed the right buttons to make the government succumb to their stingy calls and self-centred demands. A handful of fundamentally wrong decisions triggered a disastrous domino effect, the impact of which we still have to come to terms with.

A chain reaction was unleashed which took us from a practically zero-case situation to alarming double-digit daily numbers, a viral spread beyond the original wave and the full reversal of our previously excellent public health record. In a tragic twist of fate, in a matter of weeks, our much admired healthcare frontliners became the target of pathetic criticism by the myopic self-annointed experts.

If there was one monument that epitomised the veneration of greed and the sheer absence of gratitude to all those that sacrificed so much just weeks before, was the organisation of mass events being promoted and authorised in an absurd moment of hubris which we shall regret many times over. Because, you know, the dazzling strategy to achieve the six-star tourism we were told so much about was built on making Malta a second-class version of Ibiza.

Now let’s be clear and unequivocal: as a political party, we are firm believers in the strength, resilience and capability of the private sector to be the powerhouse of the economy. But we can never have a strong economy without a healthy nation.

A handful of fundamentally wrong decisions triggered a disastrous domino effect

The government is profoundly wrong in seeking to balance public health with economic considerations.

Public health can never be traded for some economic gain because ultimately both will stumble and collapse in no time.

In the political arena, in circumstances like this, one may be tempted to resort to one of those “I told you so” moments, but this is neither in our style nor part of our agenda.

Some may think we are politically naïve not to go into overdrive with our criticism of the mess the government has landed us in.

However, our people need solutions not rhetoric. Our country needs a clear plan ahead not hollow buzzwords. Our workers need job security not flawed ‘mechanisms’. Our employers need reassurance that the government will support them and our entrepreneurs need the confidence to move forward with their investments.

Once again, we shall act responsibly. For the umpteenth time in the last months, we urge the government to climb down off its high horse and accept our proposal to set up a cross-party task force entrusted to tackle the looming economic crisis in a holistic fashion and in a unified approach: government, opposition, the constituted bodies and the social partners around one table delivering a meaningful agenda.

Let’s put tribal politics aside for once and place the livelihoods of thousands of families as our core priority.

We are blessed by having leaders of a handful of bodies and unions who possess the presence of mind to be able to be part of this process.

So let us set aside our differences and work hard to deliver a viable future for our industry, fixing the malaise of the economic model of the last years, turning the tables on the COVID-19 crisis and shining a ray of hope that, as politicians, we are not merely a self-serving lot intent on self-preservation but have really the common good at heart.

It takes two to tango: the PN is making the first step. We eagerly await a responsible and mature response.

Claudio Grech, PN spokesperson on the economy