Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1254350
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 3 JUNE 2020 NEWS ANALYSIS SCOOTER 001 SHARING THE PRESENT, SO WE CAN BUILD A BETTER FUTURE. One app. Over 450 shared vehicles. Pay per minute, per hour or per day. goto.com.mt/download * Rate per minute for Scooter trips on the GoTo Business Plan. Terms and Conditions apply. €1.50 PAGE 2 PAGE 5 Silvio Schembri apologises for 'unfortunate' foreign workers comments Banking customers offered home loan moratorium due to Covid-19 THURSDAY 19 MARCH 2020 • ISSUE 50 WWW.BUSINESSTODAY.COM.MT DAVID HUDSON A rescue package worth €1.8 bil- lion has been unveiled to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the economy. PAGE 3 PAGE 2 Editorial PAGE 9 RIDING OUT THE STORM AND SAVING JOBS Coronavirus Government announces €1.8b rescue package to mitigate crisis Robert Abela BOV registers pre-tax profit of €89.2m • Government to pay companies €350 per employee on quarantine leave • Businesses ordered to shut down temporarily, will receive two days of assistance per week per employee Id-dinja dieħla f'riċessjoni? U Malta? www.illum.com.mt ARA PAĠNI 12 u 13 €1.25 IL-ĦADD 22 TA' MARZU 2020 • NRU 701 'Il-Gvern huwa rrassenjat li se nitilfu x-xogħol. Mentri aħna rridu nsalvawh' 'ROBERT GĦINNA QABEL IKUN TARD WISQ' Il-GWU, l-MHRA, il-GRTU, il-FATTA u l-UĦM mal-ILLUM iwissu li jekk il-Gvern mhux se jħabbar miżuri ġodda se jibdew jingħalqu n-negozji u jintilfu l-impjiegi, speċjalment fit-turiżmu, fir-ristoranti u d-divertiment! ARA PAĠNI 4 u 5 PAĠNI 10 u 11 SUNDAY • 22 MARCH 2020 • ISSUE 1064 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.95 maltatoday This won't work, Robert EDITORIAL MT2 ROBERT Abela's package does not go far enough and will not work. Malta has entered a war which has destabilised the economy and all its workers. Abela cannot be scared of spending and rack- ing up the necessary government debt needed for a national stim- ulus now: the risks of not acting will be greater than what lies ahead in the next months. He must alleviate economic hard- ship during the epidemic to pre- vent lasting damage to the econ- omy by stopping this recession from turning into the next Great Depression. What Malta needs is a form of universal credit for all, to keep aggregate demand up and so that idle workers at home can return straight to work at the end of the crisis and restore the supply chain. STAY IN, STAY SAFE, WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT/COVID19 Our appeal is simple: Maltese businesses must be sustained by keeping workers in a job with a social insurance that sustains their wages CLAUDIO GRECH 'We cannot allow Maltese businesses to fail. We would be failing society' INTERVIEW MT2 Never before has your support of free and independent journalism been so crucial Support us with a subscription or a donation maltatoday.com.mt/maltatodaydigitaledition health crisis, middle-of-the-road voters increasingly regard dep- uty Prime Minister and health minister Chris Fearne as the lev- el-headed PM that Labour die- hards denied them. The contrast between Abela's populism and Fearne's no-nonsense sobriety was clearly exposed in the crisis. While the two remained on the same boat when it came to the imposition and subsequent lifting of restrictions, there was a clear difference in style and discourse. By declaring the COVID emer- gency over, Abela may have sto- len Fearne of his thunder. Nev- ertheless, while Fearne's stature had been diminished after the leadership contest, which saw Abela winning against all odds, Fearne emerges from the crisis stronger than ever. This may in the end prove beneficial to the PL as it could help it cater to two different constituencies. But it also creates a potential reference point for dissent in the party. During Monday's press conference, Abela still managed to rope in Public Health Super- intendent Charmaine Gauci and Chris Fearne, dispelling doubts that the latest lifting of restric- tive measures did not enjoy their approval. In this way Abela still projects unity. This time round Abela was also more careful in his delivery, thus diminishing the contrast with his deputy prime minister. Abela's gravitas as a statesman with foresight is in question Abela may have taken a step too far by declaring that the COV- ID-19 crisis is now behind us. His announcement that that people fined for breaching social distancing rules could receive an am- nesty through a sort of mechanism that allows for speedier petitions on fines, has already back- fired amongst segments of the population. While his declaration was suggestive of an appeal mechanism similar to the petitions board on traffic and parking contraventions, the deliberate use of the word am- nesty sent shivers down the spine of law-abiding citizens. On Monday Abela explained that the amnesty he had in mind did not go beyond fine-tuning ex- isting structures, but the problem with his reference to an amnesty felt like an insult towards not just those who sacrificed their social life, but also towards front-liners who risked their life for the com- munity. Abela has so far distinguished himself by milking the political benefits of a successful health strategy led by Fearne and Gauci, while at the same time sending mixed messages which at times risked undermining it by giving a false sense of security to the pub- lic in a bid to instil optimism and thus increase consumer spend- ing. In Abela's case, appeals for cau- tion and social distancing have always come across as an after- thought rather than as the focus of his speeches. As long as cases continue to decline, Abela will remain immune to criticism and is bound to reap political benefits from the success of a health strat- egy mobilised under his watch. Moreover, his uplifting message of optimism and unity does strike a chord with a nation which was under severe stress. Like Muscat before, Abela seems to hit the right political notes to appeal to the nation's populist instincts, even if he still lacks Muscat quick-witted eloquence. How- ever, Abela's gamble now clearly depends on whether Malta will face a second wave or not. For if this does happen, Abela's claim that we can put COVID-19 be- hind us will increasingly sound like George Bush's declaration that the war in Iraq was over just weeks after the invasion of Iraq. It is unclear why Abela has put himself at the mercy of a virus. One possible answer is that Ab- ela knows that if normality does not set in now, the economic cost of the crisis will be too heavy for him to carry without suffering political consequences. normality boomerang? Five scenarios for Abela