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04.06.2020 8 INTERVIEW In May, the Nationalist Party issued proposals for a post- coronavirus economic recovery plan, based on a number of pillars. One of the proposals the party made is for "targeted, temporary and timely aid" to enterprises affected by the pandemic. In the coming days, the Prime Minister is expected to announce a COVID-19 budget worth millions of euro. What are the measures the PN would like to see included within this? The PN's recovery plan is based on a number of policy pillars. When devising these, one of the things we looked at is the fact that, in the short-term, enterprises which were affected by the coronavirus must be provided with temporary relief. Even if shops and other businesses are opening, this doesn't mean that the effects of the crisis will vanish today. Therefore, assistance should not only be given to certain sectors while a substantial number of busi- nesses – which received little or no help because they didn't fall under the government's Annex A, but un- der Annex B or in no applicable cat- egory – are left out. These enterpris- es are moving closer to a situation where their financial losses become unsustainable. The PN, therefore, is proposing that enterprises whose cash flows or revenues were reduced by 50% or more due to COVID-19 – are given assistance. This has to be done irre- spective of the economic sector these enterprises operate in, because there are businesses which, while they were not forced to close because of the coronavirus lockdown, their in- come was still very much impacted, and despite this, they are not getting any help from the government. This situation is leading to a substantial increase in unemployment as we go along. With this in mind, our proposal for short-term relief is intended to provide targeted aid to companies which can materially prove that they have been impacted as a di- rect consequence of the crisis. We are not advocating government bailouts. If a government had been managed badly, independent from COVID-19, then this is a different matter. But for those businesses which were functioning properly and doing well before the pandem- ic but were then hit badly, we be- lieve these should be helped. Need- ing particular attention are those enterprises whose business model will have to change because of the social distancing measures which are being mandated. Restaurants are a case in point – these are hav- ing to limit the number of patrons in their establishment. So, while the government allowed them to reopen, it must also ensure that they keep receiving help so that they can adapt and survive in this new reality. The PN's proposals, also focus on, amongst other aspects, the opportunity to seize the COVID-19 situation as a chance for economic change. In fact, the PN is highlighting that this is a good chance to transform what it says is Malta's "broken economic model". How can this be done? The economic model employed by the government over the past years has been built on consumption. It is focused on increasing consump- tion structurally, through popula- tion growth, with statistics showing Malta's population is rising. This approach was leading to economic growth, but the growth is not sub- stantive because it isn't focused on value added but on increasing the workforce through labour arbitrage – competing through low wages. We believe this is not the type of econo- my the country should focus on, be- cause Malta is too small to support an increase in population and is al- ready very densely populated. The Nationalist Party has always empha- sised that economic growth has to be carried out through investing in economic sector which increase val- ue added – those which don't depend on how much land or space is used, but on how much the country is ca- pable of generating more value using the limited space available. Previous Nationalist governments did this through major investment in the financial services, gaming and technology industries. These took advantage of the fact that Malta is became an EU member with access to the European market of 500 mil- lion people, and also use technolo- gy to produce growth without this needing to require the use of physical space. What we are saying is: Malta should take this opportunity to push to- wards a vision which isn't only about economic growth but encapsulates the whole socio-economic dimen- sion. The social and economic di- mensions shouldn't be split. In fact, the most advanced countries are moving towards an emphasis on live- ability in their territory. They focus on how much their country is livea- ble for their citizens – not only how much the economy produces, but on the degree to which what is produced is done in such a way that society can live better. This includes investing COVID-19's golden opportunity MASSIMO COSTA BusinessToday speaks with PN MP and economy spokesperson Claudio Grech on his party's plan for a post- COVID recovery

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