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Xavier Durieu is not a household name in Malta. Yet, his speech at the Today seminar hosted by MediaToday in conjunction with the GRTU to mark SME day on Thursday was not only telling, but very seriously refreshing.
Mr Durieu is Vince Farrugia’s counterpart in the European Union. He feels that small to medium-sized enterprise will benefit form an open unhindered market. He laments about the ‘open and unhindered’ Europe which we dreamt of. He spoke about a Europe that lags behind the United States in economic growth, of a Europe stifled by bureaucracy and of a Europe that has failed in implementing the Lisbon strategy. Europe has failed in its targets, in other words, it still has protectionism on its mind and it does not make it easy for non-national companies to set up base in another member state.
The perception that Europe is one market and one big business venture for 450 million citizens is still a far cry. Durieu was speaking to a gathering of GRTU heavies, and he underlined the need to lift restrictions and protectionism; one could not help thinking that the GRTU is in so many instances in a quandary.
When to be, for or against protectionism? This is not an endemic characteristic for associations who represent the self-employed. Most countries uphold their own form of inbred protectionism. In Europe, France and Italy are the better examples of how the state continues to interfere with the free market in such a blatant and negative manner.
In his speech Durieu spoke about the need to look at the long-term advantages of the European market. It is this which many self-employed fail to see. The unwillingness to change and to accept change is a human trait.
Optimistically, Durieu underlined the success of Malta in adopting the European acquis. But he was unaware of how inherently obstructive we as Maltese become when we face change. He went one step ahead by stating that politicians needed to take decisions and to sleep on them. “We elect politicians to take decisions,” hinting that this habit of taking a decision and then returning to the general public with a referendum was one way of never taking a decision.
He cited cases where politicians took decisions which were unpopular with the electorate but fundamental for the long term. He asked for more courage from politicians in seeking the common good and to press ahead with reform.
A leading European Union specialist, Stefano Mallia, commented in the gathering that far too often politicians failed to act because lobby groups, one would imagine that the GRTU could be one of them, stifled the pace of change and reform.
Indeed the GRTU wishes for low cost airlines, but then objects to ships such as the MV Doulos berthing in Grand Harbour and offering books for sale.
If there was a lesson from Durieu’s presentation, it had to be that both Government and lobby groups are equally responsible for the awkward pace in reform. It has to be the politician who advances change, by focussing on the pace of change and the targets.
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