There have been countless times where successive governments took decisions motivated by a sense of national interest - only for reforms, new or amended laws, projects and undertakings to be met with sheer disappointment among certain segments of society.
Granted, there are no magic wand solutions to please one and all. Resistance comes part and parcel with any process intended to bring about change. However, conflict often ensues not because a decision is taken, but rather because of the way it is taken.
We have come a long way already. We may now pride ourselves on having adopted a culture of consultation prior to decision-making processes that will, to any extent, rock the boat. And yet, some decisions will still badly affect small and large businesses, with a wave of disgruntlement that follows. Had the issue just been disappointment, then it wouldn’t be too bad. In the current economic circumstances, when enterprises are badly affected, be they small or large, a company director talks less about having to grin and bear it – and more about the livelihood of families of shareholders and workers. During consultations, government has heard the threat of workers facing prospective lay-offs so many times and it may have become immune to the same old song. It is now facing the music.
In the run up to the next national budget, the finance minister will have to deal with a host of threats facing the country’s economy. Added to inflation, recession, deficit and competitiveness, he is now looking at yet another uncomfortable NSO figure showing a rise in unemployment of as much as 1,412 in June when compared to the same month last year. This is not to mention casual workers, part-timers and unregistered employees within the hospitality and construction sectors who are very often the first to be laid off – thus impinging on the disposable income of Maltese families.
Consultation or no consultation, the end result is habitually one which will truly impinge on business operations.
This summer has been peppered with such events: the obstinate refusal to lower VAT at restaurants, the new residential parking scheme in Sliema, the refurbishment of Freedom Square, new construction regulations and rent reform, to mention a few.
No doubt, all of these initiatives have been taken with the intention of safeguarding the national interest. What hurts businesses is not that they are actually done, but much rather the way they are done.
Why has there been a promise to reduce restaurant VAT rates when this has not been given at the time the tourism industry needs it most? Has government weighed the risk of a subsiding catering and hospitality sector against a rising deficit?
Why is consultation for the new Sliema parking scheme taking place after the project was decided upon, and not while formulating the proposals to ADT? Businesses in the area do acknowledge that the primary stakeholders are residents, but nobody has yet approached them with a solution to staff parking. Nobody has yet reassured them that the new parking scheme, along with the pedestrianisation of Bisazza Street, is not a mere ploy to favour one area and kill the other.
Why have Valletta shop owners had to learn that they had to relocate their premises within a few months, by means of an scantily detailed letter, to make way for a new parliament?
It is true that for many years, the construction industry in Malta has been given the freedom to abuse any law under the sun. One should however acknowledge that some improvements are already being made, while it is obvious that there is still a long way to go. The introduction of amended laws for construction was needed, but there is no logical explanation as to why these will practically obliterate from the playing field any small-time contractor with the ambition of growing. This is what Malta’s biggest contractors themselves are stating.
Malta has been waiting for a sensible rent law for years on end. It has finally arrived. But instead of welcoming it with open arms, the GRTU feels insulted for not having been listened to while the law was being drawn up. Vince Farrugia even claims that he doubts whether his recommendations have actually been read.
Perhaps it is high time for government to stop hiding behind the culture of consultation it has ingrained, and start listening more actively to the needs of the business community. When decisions are taken for the national interest, decision makers have the responsibility to thoroughly define what the national interest is. Decisions for the nation must be backed up by detailed information and forecasts, rather than by gut feeling or by an ambition to gain political mileage.
