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18 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 SEPTEMBER 2019 16 September, 2009 Budget 2010: No room to manoeuvre GOVERNMENT ministries have been warned that they are to receive far less money to spend next year as the Finance ministry is desperately trying to ensure financial stability in the wake of a terrible year for the economy. Finance minister Tonio Fenech announced yesterday that revenue projections for this year have gone astray to the tune of €80 mil- lion. Fenech also made it clear that no tax reductions are expected to be announced in next year's budget. Speaking during a di-ve.com business breakfast, Tonio Fenech insisted that "it is not possible in the circumstances to cut income tax." He stressed that given the projections of no significant economic growth during 2010, he will not be taking "gamblish decisions" [sic]. Pressured by an Excessive Deficit Procedure imposed by the European Commission that has obliged government to reduce its deficit by the end of 2010, expenditure for next year is set to hit a record low, while the state of the economy continues to keep the Finance ministry in a straitjacket with little room to manoeuvre. Government will not even be accepting to fork out an estimated €12 million as a "one- off" part payment of the Cost of Living Ad- justment (COLA), as proposed by the Malta Employers Association. "I do not have €12m available, and if I had, I would use it to retain jobs by directly focus- ing on companies which require help," the finance minister said. While no new taxes are expected to be announced, many reforms are set to be im- plemented during next year especially where subsidies and social services are involved. A tougher hand is expected next year in controlling abuses in social services, while a total reform in government subsidised medi- cines is expected to be announced. The country's competitiveness and creation of jobs is a priority for government during next year, while further assistance to reces- sion hit manufacturing industries is expected to continue. Outbound tourists down 2.4% in July Outbound Maltese tourists for July were estimated at 35,313, down by 2.4% when com- pared to the corresponding month last year. Of these, 84.9% travelled by air. The majority – 86.7 % – travelled to EU destinations, the most popular being Italy and the UK. In addition, an estimated 4,702 outbound tourists opted for Non-EU destina- tions. The 25-44 age bracket accounted for the majority of travellers. MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week Protests are about more than numbers Editorial "We must keep the government on its toes, and make sure that the [Moneyval] recommendations are implemented." Opposition leader Adrian Delia on the aftermath of the Moneyval report LAST Saturday's 'Enough is enough' protest was significant in that it succeeded in attracting a respectable turn-out, despite effectively closing the door to 'partisan-political participation'. In a country where 'identification with party' remains one of the strongest social bonds, it is extremely rare for more than a handful to ever attend a 'non-partisan' en- vironmental protest. This explains why the protest against the Labour government's Zonqor development in 2015 was so massive: it was inflated by a Nationalist Opposition which – understandably enough – saw the event as an opportunity to apply pressure on the Labour government. There was an ironic reversal of roles in- volved in proceedings; for 10 years earlier, the Labour Opposition had likewise swelled the ranks of another anti-government envi- ronmental protest, against the Gonzi admin- istration's ODZ extensions of 2005/6. From this perspective, last Saturday's at- tendance – while still a far-cry from the turn- outs of 2005 and 2015 – may well represent a small but fundamental shift in national attitudes on the matter of political allegiance. Apart from the overt exclusion of the coun- try's two main political forces, the event also succeeded in uniting a significant cross-sec- tion of Maltese civil society. Graffitti spokesperson Andre Callus con- tends that "the process leading to the protest was as significant as the protest itself". Unlike most other previous demonstra- tions, the 7th September protest had been announced more than a month in advance "in order to have the time to connect all the different groups around Malta and Gozo that are active, in some way or another, against this unsustainable development model". The result was that 68 groups, "going well beyond environmental NGOs and including many residents' groups, students, farmers and cultural associations, amongst others, participated in both the protest as well as in its organisation." But protests are also instrumental in set- ting the national mood, and that is where last Saturday's protest may have been most successful. Just as pre-2008 protests against rationalisation forced Gonzi to promise that 'ODZ will mean ODZ' – and just as the Zon- qor protest made Labour wary of any further tinkering of development zones – last Satur- day's protest may well make the government more sensitive to the creeping perception that it is in cahoots with big developers. In this sense, the protest can already be seen to have produced results: Former La- bour leader Alfred Sant's endorsement of the protestors' demands has already exposed internal divisions on the issue within the Labour Party. Nonetheless, Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat's reaction showed no indication of any willingness to depart from the current 'un- sustainable economic model'. Speaking a day after the protest, he reiterated that his government "would continue taking the deci- sions necessary for the country to prosper." Insisting that the government will remain 'pro-business', Muscat reaffirmed his belief that 'unstoppable' economic growth is the only way to create a strong economy in order for Malta to 'continue to address the chal- lenges it faces.' His only apparent concession was to an- nounce that next month's budget would also lay out plans for addressing some of the chal- lenges the country faces, including the envi- ronment and its air quality. Unfortunately, this does not address the core point raised by the previous day's pro- test: i.e., a growing concern that Malta's unprecedented rate of 'economic growth' has come about at the expense of the envi- ronment and our collective quality of life; and that, despite three years of economic prosperity, no significant progress has been achieved on the environmental front. For all its success as a crowd-building exercise, then, Saturday's protest has yet to achieve its main aim: that of instilling a fundamental culture-change in our country's entire modus operandi. For this to happen, it would have to take more than even a firm commitment by the Prime Minister. Regulators and national au- thorities would have to also revise their role, to be more autonomous from the political forces of the day. What, then, is the way forward? Now that a discernible movement has been born, and a list of clear demands been made, one would expect civil society to step up its efforts: as Callus has already indicated he will do. "This network is there to stay and grow stronger," he said. "It is our belief that change does not happen through sterile dialogue, but through building a popular and broad non- partisan movement that can act as a counter- weight to the disproportionate influence of developers over politics…. The only possible way forward is to con- tinue strengthening the movement that is fighting the unchecked power of developers and defending our environment and quality of life". This can only happen through, among oth- ers, "the formation of a national discourse that counters the notion that this widespread destruction is inevitable or even desirable". This is, in fact, the direction that the bud- ding protest needs to work on the most. The mantra that 'a strong economy trans- lates into a better environment' has never been properly challenged in Malta; even though evidence points in the opposite direc- tion. It must be argued that 'a strong economy' does not need to be achieved through envi- ronmental destruction; and above all, that having a 'strong economy' is in itself mean- ingless, if it deprives us of our quality of life.