In her blog this week, the EC Head of Representation JOANNA DRAKE explains that according to EU rules, the governments’ decision to write off some €100m worth of Shipyard subsidies is not acceptable.
Not that I have been away from my desk this long. Activity and the workload this summer have actually run at a peak - with every day as engaging as the other.
My impression is that people are clearly embracing EU membership on a higher scale. Much of it a question of leadership! With both political parties and every institution firmly on board, EU membership is no longer a dividing issue- not even remotely. What was once a factor of debate and divide is now a platform of national unity. That much is unquestionably true. Nevertheless I still think much more can be done and without that much cost or effort to gain further benefit from the island’s membership. Take the environment as an example. Why, for example are so many busses, trucks, taxis and cars still spewing this much toxic fumes into the air? Why are people not more helpful in keeping the island clean? Why are some building contractors still allowed to pollute the air with so much fine dust? Is it because the ordinary man in the street does not complain enough- or do we lack the ability to enforce laws? In the months to come we should be discussing these issues more often until we begin to see light at the end of the tunnel. It’s about time we all got to wrest more out of being an EU member state. The choice is really ours.
Which brings me to Neelie Kroes.
Kroes is the tough talking EU Commissioner in charge of Competition. She was in Malta recently on a whirlwind visit and - as was to be expected- didn’t mince words.
Kroes doesn’t like excuses - more so from those who fail to see the big picture. She does not think Malta is too small a country to justify staying out of step with EU rules – which, incidentally is what the majority of voters thought four years ago. Then, none of them believed Malta too tiny to become an EU member state.
What Neelie Kroes does believe is that the island is not making enough effort to wrest the full benefit of the EU’s single market- the biggest market in the world. The island is not embracing the EU’s competition policy enthusiastically enough. She said so in so many words and at every juncture. Competition is not working at full pelt and it is not because the island is too small- it’s because not everybody is making his level best to make it work, she warned.
Kroes is hardly a novice to the way the world works. She packs tons of experience in politics, business and social work. She has worked at local council and ministerial level, has headed shipping companies, universities and banks and a scientific bureau. She still heads Poets of All Nations, the Delta Psychiatric Hospital, and the Rembrandt House Museum. When she talks people listen. It was Neelie Kroes who made sure Malta dismantled its state monopoly on the import, storage and wholesale of petroleum products.
I too, as readers of this blog know well enough, have often complained against the lack of healthy competition in various sectors. I do this in deference to the frustration consumers feel each time prices move upwards- which is often these days. When you get a packet of cornflakes costing the same in every shop you know something’s not right. A difference in prices, however slight, would show that healthy competition is at play. But to get the same price everywhere? Never!
Mind you Neelie Kroes did heap praise on the island’s Competition Authority. She said people should follow some of the cases they have been working on, available on their website.
“Competition policy is not about leaving everything to the market,” she said. “It is our attempt at helping markets work better. Competition is not easy but useful. We are here to support Malta in any reform it needs to make to make the most of competition. But the choice cannot be made by others. It’s got to be made by you.“
Neelie Kroes did of course look into the impact competition- or the lack of it- is having on Maltese consumers. But there is a bigger issue at play. It’s the future of the drydocks and its workers. And just before she left she dropped a real right bombshell.
“The time is up. The current restructuring plan (established in October 2001) has failed to restore the viability of the shipyards and therefore cannot be the basis for the grant of further state aid,” she insisted. The Commission is still expecting more details on the privatisation process from the Maltese government.
It was quite a statement to make more so at a time when all the involved stakeholders - the government, the opposition and the General Workers’ Union (GWU) seem to be talking from the same hymn sheet as far as the future of the yard is concerned.
The one stumbling block, it seems, is the governments’ decision to write off some €100m worth of subsidies. That, according to EU rules is not acceptable. Privatisation, in the eyes of Commissioner Kroes, is not a means of getting rid of one’s problems. You can’t just write off a €100m of hard earned taxpayers money and walk away into the sunset. It’s easy to waste state aid. State aid has to be directed at helping a whole economy or a whole generation of people to become more productive not for handing out money to one company or industry. State aid is well spent, for example, on research and development - where Malta ranks lowest amongst EU member states.
Come December, therefore, the Maltese Government will, technically, be unable to dish out more subsidies to keep the yard afloat
We of course all look forward to the issue being resolved to everyone’s benefit. At the end of the day compromise is the one single major asset the EU deploys in finding solutions to strong-headed problems.
A complete version of Joanna Drake’s blog is available at www.ec.europa.int
Nevertheless I still think much more can be done and without that much cost or effort to gain further benefit from the island’s membership. Take the environment as an example. Why, for example are so many busses, trucks, taxis and cars still spewing this much toxic fumes into the air? Why are people not more helpful in keeping the island clean? Why are some building contractors still allowed to pollute the air with so much fine dust? Is it because the ordinary man in the street does not complain enough- or do we lack the ability to enforce laws? In the months to come we should be discussing these issues more often until we begin to see light at the end of the tunnel. It’s about time we all got to wrest more out of being an EU member state. The choice is really ours.
