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24.10.19 9 EDITORIAL BusinessToday is published every Thursday. The newspaper is a MediaToday publication and is distributed to all leading stationers, business and financial institutions and banks. MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN COORDINATING EDITOR: PAUL COCKS CONTRIBUTING JOURNALISTS: MASSIMO COSTA | LIAM CARTER BusinessToday, MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016, Malta Newsroom email: bt@mediatoday.com.mt Advertising: afarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Telephone: 00356 21 382741 THE business community cannot for- get the five years between 2008 and 2013, which were characterised by continuous parliamentary uncertainty that left its im- pact on business confidence. Already under pressure from the world economic downturn, businesses were at the time reluctant to invest as govern- ment's political programme kept being un- dermined in Parliament. e experience of those five years was an eye opener because economic activity does not happen within a vacuum, and is de- pendent how a country is governed. ere is no doubt that the first biggest change that happened after the 2013 gen- eral election was the return of political sta- bility. e new government's parliamentary majority was in itself a guarantee that the experience of the previous five years would not be repeated and that raised confidence. e business community also found a government with a can-do attitude that was willing to listen to its plans and ideas. Stability and certainty are good for the country and the economy because they en- able businesses to plan ahead with serenity. But having political stability alone is not enough in a competitive global environ- ment. is is where reputation plays an important part. Over the past few years the country's rep- utation has suffered, primarily because of misdeeds - alleged or real - in the financial services sector. e perception that Maltese regulators and law enforcers have a lax attitude to- wards money laundering was strengthened when the Panama Papers scandal outed Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri. Some of the international criticism Malta has received is unfair, misplaced and dis- connected from reality but some of it was justified and hard-hitting. e Moneyval report released last month gave an impartial snapshot of the situation, flagged the deficiencies and proposed a way forward. Malta is slowly trying to up its game, and the recent ringing endorsement of the Malta Financial Services Authority's trans- formation plan by the chief of the German federal regulator, BaFin, is testament to this change. Even the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit has increased its resources to fulfil its duty better after coming in for a battering from the European Banking Authority. More has to be done though to ensure prosecutions do take place in money laun- dering cases. e government's commitment to cre- ate a financial crime agency distinct from the police force is to be applauded but the move must not be stalled because of puer- ile turf wars. Additionally, it must be given all the necessary resources to go after the big fish without fear or favour. Fighting money laundering and other fi- nancial crime is a business-friendly meas- ure because it ensures a level playing field for companies competing in an open econ- omy. It would be a mistake for the government to ignore the reputational aspect of its ac- tions, or lack of them. e situation is not as bad as the Oppo- sition would like to portray it, but it is nei- ther as good as we would all like it to be. e Opposition does well to maintain vig- ilance but it must also be careful of not rid- ing every foreign battering ram that comes Malta's way. Competing jurisdictions may have an interest in undermining compe- tition, and while the criticism may be di- rected towards Malta on issues of concern, the real target could be the advantageous taxation system and a drive towards EU tax harmonisation. e Opposition must not act naively in these circumstances. Malta will be losing an ally in the EU when Britain exits and the least the country can do is project a united front to defend its taxation system. Within this context, the country needs an Opposition that does more than offer pointed criticism. e Opposition has to up its game and show it can be an alterna- tive government, something that has so far been missing. Political stability, country reputation and naivety

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