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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt 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 • 3 NOVEMBER 2024 Vision 2050: An admirable initiative but excuse our cynicism Editorial GOVERNMENT'S plan to draw up an econom- ic vision for the next 25 years is admirable if it hones in on areas where national consensus can be reached. There are several areas of public policy where it would be beneficial to have continuity in prin- ciple, even if governments along the way may adapt to changing circumstances. Any hope of building a metro as an alternative to road transport requires a long-term vision to be in place because such a massive financial and infrastructural undertaking will span over sever- al legislatures. Major investments in the energy sector that prioritise decarbonisation and en- sure a level of strategic autonomy would benefit immensely from a long-term plan. Attempts to ensure future pensioners can receive adequate incomes by supplementing their two-thirds pen- sion with an occupational pension require broad agreement and peace of mind that investments will be maintained over the long term. Within this context, an exercise that tries to understand today's realities, tomorrow's chal- lenges and how society will evolve, while propos- ing a way forward, is more than welcome. Government's latest attempt to prepare a long- term plan dubbed Vision 2050 will require not only input from the social partners but also their support for key measures. But if this is intended to be a serious attempt, government must come clean on a similar effort it undertook only three years ago. In the summer of 2021, government had launched what it called Malta's Economic Vision 2021-2031 with the intention of fostering eco- nomic growth that creates a better quality of life. Piloted by Economy Minister Silvio Schembri and trumpeted by Prime Minister Robert Abe- la, the 2031 vision was underpinned by the same mantra as that being bandied about now for Vi- sion 2050 - improving the quality of life. At the time, the government had even organ- ised a series of consultation meetings with the social partners and interested stakeholders. With six more years to go for the first vision document to be fully realised it remains unclear whether any of the aims laid out back then were achieved. Within this context, Opposition finance spokesperson Graham Bencini was right to ques- tion Finance Minister Clyde Caruana on TVM's Popolin last Wednesday about government's in- coherent approach. Indeed, what happened to Vision 2021-2031? Why is government embarking on a new, more ambitious exercise when it is unclear wheth- er the goals of the first exercise have been achieved? Was it just an exercise in marketing to create a feel-good environment during the dol- drums of the COVID period? Is Robert Abela's administration inching closer to the Gonzi ad- ministrations when plans were announced, on- ly to be followed up by more plans and strategy documents and very little by way of meaningful execution? On Popolin, Caruana took the criticism in his stride and even suggested that his view that Mal- ta's economic model must slowly transition to a high-value economy was not always shared by everyone in government. The minister's expla- nation was an acknowledgement that within the government not everyone was appreciating the difficulties created by the country's rapid eco- nomic expansion after 2013. Caruana, himself an architect of the model that came to rely on the importation of foreign labour, reiterates the same sentiment in today's interview with Mal- taToday. At least there is some honesty in his words. But this leader still has to be convinced that Robert Abela's administration endured a Dama- scene moment after the June European election, prompting it to prioritise quality over quantity and focus on long-term planning. Unfortunately, the Villa Rosa debacle suggests otherwise. At a time when the government in- troduced the skills pass to filter out unskilled foreign employees from the tourism industry to focus on quality and in turn restrict labour sup- ply, it acted to appease a developer, who wants to erect three hotels – three quality hotels we have been told in a bid to sugar the pill. But irrespective of the planning issues at stake and the very suspect way Cabinet agreed to kick off a review process of the Villa Rosa local plan, the messaging was simply contradictory. It is instances like these that cast doubt on the true intentions behind grand plans such as Vi- sion 2050. Is government really committed to an honest process that lays out the challenges and embraces the solutions around which consensus can be built? Writing in MaltaToday, Economy Minister Sil- vio Schembri insists government has the politi- cal will to ensure Maltese citizens "enjoy a high quality of life, with access to education, health- care, and opportunities for cultural enrichment". A cynical electorate may not give too much thought to these lofty ideals unless they trans- late into concrete solutions to address persistent problems that could only get worse in the future. As for us, we stand to be convinced that Vision 2050 is the real deal. Excuse our cynicism but only time will tell whether we are wrong. Quote of the Week "The children and their mother are now in a state of panic, knowing that [Nazzareno] Dalli had been granted bail." Lawyers from the Attorney General's office appealing a court decision to grant Dalli bail. The man is accused of attempting to kill his ex-partner's young daughters aged 12 and 15. MaltaToday 10 years ago 2 November 2014 MFSA enquiry uncovered suspected fraud AN allegedly fraudulent document from a Spanish bank that certified the capital solid- ity of Spanish photovoltaic manufacturers Solarig, was uncovered during an enquiry by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), MaltaToday has learned. In July 2014, Spanish bank Bankia informed the MFSA that it was not in a position to confirm the authenticity of the document – issued by a branch of Bancaja Bank, because it lacked the necessary signature. The letter had been presented by Solarig in 2012 in its bid to secure a €35 million contract to install PV panels on govern- ment buildings. But following an inves- tigation by the Prime Minister's inter- nal audit and investigations department (IAID), the Maltese police are now to start investigating allegations of fraud. MaltaToday is informed that George Barbaro Sant, the managing director of Al- berta, the partners in the Solarig bid, will be among those to be called in for questioning. In the letter to the MFSA, Bankia Bank's director of business banking Gonzalo Al- cubilla, told the regulator: "It should be mentioned that the letter [from Bancaja] has no signature, so it is not possible to con- firm the authenticity of the same. "In any case, it should be noted that on the date the letter would have been issued (February 9, 2012) the banking business of [Bancaja] had been transferred by spin off to Bankia, so any sponsorship letter could not have been issued by t above men- tioned Savings Bank." ...