opinion

Three years later

Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi looks back at the promises made in the last election

The 1998 general elections in Malta, was a highly unexpected event, since such an early election had not happened for years in recent history. Both parties presented their political programmes. After three years of Nationalist government, one may analyse whether the electoral promises made by the Nationalist party were worth the paper they were printed on.

The issues during the last general election were quite extensive. For example the Nationalist party in opposition aggressively criticised the Labour government that it taxed the Maltese citizens excessively. In fact, one of the major promises made by the Nationalist party was that taxes would be reduced. Has this occurred?

One must bear in mind that every Dalli-budget, the Maltese citizens have been made to pay more and more taxes. The thirty-three taxes imposed by government, which were vociferously criticised by the Nationalist party were practically retained and the PN government imposed over 150 taxes in a two and a half year period in government.

What adds insult to injury is that although the Nationalist government is harshly taxing our incomes, perks and means of personal revenues, it has not decreased government's expenditure. Thus, it is definitely not addressing the public deficit problem. It is just making matters worse.

One must also recall that the Nationalist party criticised the water and electricity rates that were introduced by the Labour government. The Nationalist Party promised to reduce the said rates to the original rates.

This never occurred.

The Nationalist party in opposition constantly criticised the Labour government that it failed to create jobs. One must now observe the fact that the labour force survey has clearly indicated that over ten thousand persons are unemployed. This figure shows two serious problems. Primarily, the figure published by the Employment & Training Corporation is unrealistic.

Shame on the government. Secondly, the figure that resulted following the survey shows that unemployment is on the increase and job opportunities are on the decease.

The Nationalist Party in opposition claimed that Malta would fare better if the application for full membership were to be reactivated. Now that the said application has been reactivated, can one say that the results that the Nationalists promised have effectively materialised? Has the re-activation of the EU membership application brought about the foreign investment that the Nationalist party has promised that it would bring about?

The Nationalist party also promised that if the application for full membership were to be re-activated, the European Union would mail the government of Malta a hundred million pound cheque. This promise has not materialised, in fact the amount of pre-accession funds that have been given to Malta, compared to the amounts promised by the Nationalist government are negligible.

The Nationalist party had promised that the European Union would fund, Malta's quest to EU membership. The results that have materialised in connection to this promise are that the government, during this year is spending circa eleven million Malta liri in order to adopt the acquis communautaire. This highly contrasts with the way the EU was depicted by the Nationalist Party to woe voters.

The Nationalist Party promised that it would negotiate terms and conditions for Malta's accession to the European Union. So far, although a negotiation process has been embarked upon, the result netted by the Nationalist government is European rules and regulations are being incorporated into the Maltese law books. The special concessions that the Nationalist Party had promised, have not materialised yet. The attitude adopted by the Nationalist government clearly shows that the current policy is to join the European Union at all costs.

Various sectors within the manufacturing industry are constantly subjected to undue pressure by government as a result of its crass incompetence.

Although, the manufacturing industries have been promised a government-aided restructuring process, this was given little or no importance by the Nationalist government. This situation is leading more enterprises out of business.

The tourism sector, which was being ably managed by the Labour government until 1998, has suffered great shocks during the past three years. Tourism is on the decline and the operators within this vital sector of our economy are registering highly unacceptable results. During the past year, rather than introducing incentives to this sector, the government, via the newly established Tourism Authority, imposed exorbitant fees on the operators within the tourism sector. Yet another example of gross mismanagement.

The Nationalist Party is a record holder with regards to the publication of reports of the state of the environment in Malta. More reports are being commissioned and published yet no action is being taken. The Mount Maghtab is annually reaching higher skies, our seas are getting filthier and low and behold, we are now having more sewage flowing in our streets.

The Nationalist Party in power has definitely not delivered. It is futile that government spokesmen talk about a problem free Malta. The gid, fiducja u direzzjoni slogan has not materialised. It is high time that our country has a change.