The news is depressing. Most press reports, opinion pieces and round-ups talk about western economy going haywire. The scenario is so dull that there is very little good news to report. Any effort in painting the picture brighter is more often than not, biased, unrealistic or a spun interpretation of facts to suit personal, business or political interests.
But it is high time we realise that in its smallness, Malta is now a grown-up country and that it should deal with certain issues as grown-ups do. Instead, many social partners stay mum, bury their heads in the sand, criticise from the armchair or spin facts.
Case in point. That property in Spain has suffered a blow is undeniable. This is a state of fact. Prospective buyers of luxury apartments are often wealthy foreigners looking for a second home in a country other than that of residence. With prices standing where they are now, will the luxury apartment developer in Malta not consider setting the price in accordance to the fact that a prospective buyer will choose Spain over Malta if it is a question of better value for money? Not according to the Federation of Estate Agents, whose president stated: “Property is all a matter of location, location, location,” in order to justify his views on the fate of luxury properties. Malta will no longer be even perceived as a location if we opt out of competing with other locations, so yes it is a matter of location. But if the FEA needs to convince readers that luxury apartment prices will not see a downward trend, it needs to present more convincing arguments. Any less than that is tantamount to an insult to our readers’ intelligence. The FEA would have lost less points if it simply said: “For the sake of our members, we are interested in keeping luxury apartments evaluating as they are, and even though we run the risk of a slump, we will do our very best to impede it.” People know this anyway.
What people do not know is what employers collectively think about the cost of energy. What this newspaper knows is that it has received sporadic comments from different entrepreneurs worried sick about customers having less disposable income, about staff exerting increasing pressure for pay rises and about their transportation costs reaching all-time highs. So we tried getting this from the horse’s mouth. We wanted to see what lobbyists are suggesting to limit the damage. Alas, every institution representing employers has remained silent. The Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Industry, the General Retailers and Traders Union, the Malta Employers’ Association and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association all refused to comment. If those institutions whose members fund in order to represent their qualms and to lobby for their interests keep mum, then why should we blame the government?
Instead, the Federation of Industry, in its most radical of moods, releases a full-blown press statement on the contract a private company risks losing with Malta Shipyards upon privatisation. Whose battle are social partners fighting?
The true function of lobbyists and unions is as beautiful as it is romantic. They are meant to have enough power, means and time to fight the causes its affiliates cannot afford fighting. They are the ones meant to enlighten governments and offer rational ways forward to safeguard the interests of their members. But instead, the GRTU goes on a crusade to oust out the small fish and new entrants in Paceville. How is the chamber of small enterprises expected to be credible in its objectives to encourage entrepreneurship and start-ups if instead, it fights a battle that belongs to the MHRA?
The MHRA should be thankful, the GRTU saved it a lot of time and energy in further empowering the five-star hotels in St George’s Bay. It should now use the time it saved in order to address the barefaced fiscal injustices independent restaurateurs face over hotel-owned restaurants. While the hosts of full-board guests enjoy the benefits of zero-rated VAT on services at their own restaurants, independent restaurateurs do not have the same opportunity. This clearly promotes the passé tourism model of letting guests eat away at the hotels on an all-inclusive basis, without much time left to spend a cent outside the confines of the hotel. So much for the Product Malta concept the MHRA itself pushed for.
In the face of such apathy, how is the government expected to take action when no social partner representing business interests has the guts of confronting it, pushing it and motivate it to move? Given the choice, it is a human enough attitude for government not to rock the boat too much when there is no apparent pressure to do so.
