Business • December 21 2003

FOI pledges support for Vassallo’s war on bureaucracy

The Malta Federation of Industry on Friday joined the GRTU in throwing its support behind Edwin Vassallo’s declared "war on bureaucracy".
Vassallo, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, criticised the various authorities and departments rendering a service to the business community, was a reflection of the complaints often raised by people in business in his Parliamentary discourse on Monday.
"This is a fight open on all fronts, we are at war against bureaucracy," he told our sister paper, The Malta Financial and Business Times, this week.
And to show that he means business, Vassallo also put his job on the line. "I will either deliver because that is what I’m here to do, or else I will go back to my family business where I can deliver. I am ready to reconsider my position if I don’t deliver."
Vassallo explained that he enjoys the full backing of ‘his’ minister, John Dalli, in this ‘war’. "I am in the right ministry, surrounded by the right people. We understand that small businesses have an important role in the economic and social development of this country. They are the ones that will create the jobs if allowed to flourish."
The FOI, A long time advocate of cutting Malta’s immense red tape problem, threw its weight behind him, stating it has, "noted with great interest and supports wholeheartedly the latest comments by the Edwin Vassallo. In his speech, delivered in the House of Representatives in recent days, Mr Vassallo declared war on excessive bureaucracy and asked the FOI to give him details of the more flagrant instances. In the coming days Mr Vassallo will be provided with a hefty list of charges and fees that industry and business in general have to pay in their daily operations."
In its comments on the matter, the FOI reminds Vassallo how it has repeatedly appealed to Government over the past 20 years to reduce bureaucracy and the excessive charges for utilities and other services that go hand in hand.
"Unfortunately, these problems have never been tackled in a purposeful manner. On the contrary, new Government agencies and authorities are mushrooming and their charges are becoming even more exorbitant. It seems that Government’s policy is either not in harmony with the views of Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo or is insensitive to Industry’s pleas to prevent the proliferation and increase in fees and bureaucracy. The consequences of lack of action goes against the very declared policies of enhancing the country’s competitiveness as confirmed by the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs in his Budget Speech and by the Prime Minister.
"It is with reason that the FOI has been insisting with Government to consider the introduction of mandatory Economic Impact Assessments of new legislation. We now must further demand that Government should undertake an exercise as a matter of national urgency to review both new and existing bureaucratic procedures and fees with a view to drastically cut down on waste of time and cost for industry if new investment into the country is to flow again as it did until some years ago."
The FOI adds that industry is being pressured by the market to reduce its prices if it is to compete and that what remains to be done is for government to "wake up to the need to act in harmony with global market demands – cut cost and red tape."