OHSA President emphasises need for clear vision in Malta's economic model

Changing the existing economic model should be a strategic exercise, grounded in a shared understanding of Malta's future direction, OHSA President David Xuereb said on Monday.

Speaking on TVM’s Xtra, Xuereb discussed Malta's economic model and stressed the importance of maintaining a consistent and clear vision for the country's future, rather than allowing it to shift with each new government leader.

"The economic model should be subject to critique based on the destination we aspire to reach," Xuereb stated.

He highlighted the current lack of clarity regarding the nation's long-term goals, which he believes has led to an inability to effectively evaluate the economic model's strengths and weaknesses.

He pointed out that without a unified vision for the country's path forward, promises and proposals from various quarters, such as the commitment to introduce free buses and create open spaces, may sound appealing superficially, but they fail to hold weight when scrutinised against a well-defined trajectory.

Xuereb drew attention to the cycle of decision-making and planning, suggesting that while certain proposals may yield immediate benefits, they might not align with the larger, overarching direction that the nation should be moving toward. 

"Criticisms arise from the lack of clarity in this aspect," he noted, indicating that evaluating policies without a clear sense of where Malta wants to be in the coming years can lead to fragmented and misguided analyses.

Speaking of the same economic model, in the latter half of the program, University Dean Andrew Azzopardi also delved into Malta’s economic landscape, highlighting how culture jolted the nation into abrupt transformations, impacting both people’s attitudes towards their capabilities and their surroundings.

“The famous Maltese dream of Joseph Muscat, as the Americans were... work and you will get, work as much as you want, and you will have as much as you want,” He explained.

This mentality, ha said, has put enormous pressure on society.

“Things that usually take us a lifetime to achieve, we expect to do as we transition out of University,” Azzopardi said.