Ranier Fsadni told us he remembers Joseph Muscat (January 16). I can assure him that the great majority of Maltese people, outside Fsadni’s stiff upper lip bubble, remember him too.
They remember him as the person who revived an economy in recession and made it the fastest growing in Europe, so much so that, while, at the beginning of his term the main concern was the rise in unemployment, when he left office employers were complaining they could not find enough people to fill vacancies.
He did so by delivering on a key promise that his detractors claimed to be impossible, namely lowering utility bills by 25% while investing in cleaner energy. Gone are the days when these bills crippled families and businesses alike, with the former queueing to cash in discount vouchers in lines, reminiscent of 1970s United Kingdom dole lines, while the latter were losing competitiveness and were not able to plan, courtesy of a utility surcharge that would increase periodically.
We remember Muscat as the prime minister who spearheaded the integration of thousands of women into the economy by providing free childcare, which has since been replicated in other European economies to a lesser extent. Financial independence does not only help well-being but allows women to walk out of abusive relationships.
This was accompanied by the tapering of benefits, thus weaning long-term unemployed off benefit dependency and making them productive members of society.
Yes, we do remember Muscat as the person who did away with an establishment dominated by a conservative mindset and introduced the most significant wave of progressive changes since the 1970s.
Lest we forget, before Labour came to office in 2013, the Maltese state merely tolerated an LGBTIQ couple to live together “as brothers” (quoting a minister at the time).
This medieval mentality was consigned to where it deserved and, instead, we introduced civil partnerships, marriage equality and all the slate of changes that made Malta leapfrog to the very first place of the Rainbow Index, where it remains today. Lest it be forgotten, the Nationalist Party, whom Fsadni so proudly supports, voted against most of these changes.
Muscat introduced the Individual Investor Programme, despite the resistance from so many, including fellow nationals, who tried to undermine our success. This programme allowed us to save in a Posterity Fund that served to provide a safety net for families and businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pensioners remember Muscat as the prime minister who raised their pensions for the first time in ages, in the same way that he raised the minimum wage and put in a system to regularly revise it.
Young families received assistance to buy their first home while workers started benefitting from annual income tax cuts and refunds. Indeed, while the Nationalist government’s budgets were synonymous with tax increases, Labour put in a tradition of not increasing taxes, effectively freezing them for more than a decade.
Muscat pledged a new infrastructure for the country, fixing most of our crippled roads and constructing new links in record time.
Obviously, Fsadni and his ilk will always be remembered for the sound electoral drubbings Muscat gave them both in opposition and even more so in government.
This is the legacy that Robert Abela has been building on successfully, helping our country to reach new heights.
Daniel Attard is a Labour MEP.