Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1547002
FINANCE Minister Clyde Caru- ana went on record saying he does not want to be the person who "kills this country's econo- my" and that is why energy sub- sidies will not be removed on his watch. Fair enough. I don't think any rational person wishes Malta to collapse either. Howev-er, his attempt at painting a doomsday scenario is not in keeping with the responsibility he car-ries to- wards the public in his position. Instead of telling us that 3,000 jobs would be lost and that a catastrophe would ensue, Caru- ana should be putting pressure on the prime minister to change course and gradually adjust the subsi-dies because the econom- ic reckoning will have to come sooner rather than later. A finance minister should be steering the ship into calmer wa- ters not indirectly encouraging the government to head right in- to the eye of the storm by keep- ing us on the same path. There are also times when, yes, those in charge need to bear the brunt of negative public re- ac-tion, unpalatable as it may seem, by advising a wiser course of action. As an example, those who follow what's happening in the UK will know that the new prime minister, Andy Burn- ham, came in for quite a bit of flak last week. He announced plans to adjust the existing triple lock arrange- ment for the state pension in or- der to help fund a new plan for social care. The tri-ple lock cur- rently guarantees that the state pen-sion goes up each year in line with either infla-tion, wage increases or 2.5%, whichever is the highest. His plan is for pen- sions to increase by 2.5% or in- flation, whichever is higher. The initial reaction by pension- ers was under-standably negative with people phoning in to talk shows to complain bitterly about being pe-nalised after working hard all their lives. Why should the money needed for social care come out of their pensions, was their very valid ar-gument. With millions of pensioners already reported to be living in poverty, this is being described by Burn- ham's critics as yet another blow to their quality of life. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that the National Care Service Burnham is pro- pos-ing will provide free person- al care at home for older people, based on need rather than ability to pay. So, while at face value it sound- ed like a very unpopular deci- sion, in reality it could well turn out to be an intelligent, socially just, move which actually bene- fits those who need it the most. Of course, the crunch is that the Labour prime minister needs to make it to 2030, which is the tar- get date for the changes to come into effect, seeing that the coun- try has had 7 differ-ent prime ministers in the last decade. Meanwhile, the brutal reality facing the UK and other coun- tries right now is how to cope with a fuel crisis which is crip- pling most European economies. In contrast, so far, in Malta we have been cocooned to believe we have a bottomless pit of funds to distribute all the free- bies which were promised while continuing to dole out subsidies at every turn. By cushioning the people from realistic prices, this adminis- tration has simply encouraged waste. Do you think there would be queues of cars with just the driver if the price of fuel re-flect- ed what is happening through- out Europe? As for our noncha- lant use of electricity, where are the educational campaigns for domestic use, private enterprise and government departments to be less wasteful? They are no- where to be found because our bills are still manageable. Unlike other countries, we are not hav- ing to de-cide between cooling/ heating our homes, buy-ing pet- rol to go to work or paying for groceries. It's time to drag Mal- ta into the real world be-cause in order to continue with these subsidies as fuel prices hit a re- cord high, we already know that the money, a projected €392 mil- lion for this year alone, will have to come from somewhere else. Minister Caruana, however, fell short of explaining where the cuts will be coming from. One possible cut I could sug- gest is that of pub-lic adminis- tration expenditure. There are many areas which could do with a trimming of the fat, starting with the numerous consult- ants who are paid eye-watering amounts, sometimes after they have had to resign in disgrace from their previous roles. There are also people who are milking the public coffers with not one but two high-paying positions. Their salaries might be a drop in the ocean in the light of the gov- ern-ment's €12 billion debt, but getting rid of all these unnec- essary salaries would be a start. Even as I write this, I am fully aware that the likelihood of that happening is next to nil. The only thing we have been told is that the much-vaunted €1,000 bonus for every worker promised in the election cam- paign is not going to happen yet (or ever). If there are those who are surprised by this, they must be very gullible. Politicians will promise anything to get elect- ed, including the bizarre idea of giving you cash just because you show up for work. Of course, inevitably you have those justi- fying the back-tracking: "Every administration has five years to implement its electoral promis- es." Well, the way things are look- ing on the eco-nomic front, barely anything which has been promised will actually come to fruition because it was all unfea- sible in the first place. Even if we look at all the servic- es which are free at the moment, it is difficult to understand how they will continue to be sustain- able. But now that the public has been lulled into a false sense of security that these freebies will remain forever, trying to reverse this trend would be like snatch- ing a favourite toy from a child's hands. There will be tantrums and meltdowns and the feel- good factor on which the Labour Party has been riding on for so long will dissi-pate in an instant. But we can only live under the illusion that all is hunky dory for so long. The first signs that all is not as rosy as it seems came during a meeting with the social partners a few weeks ago. "The minister told us in no uncertain words that we, the social partners, 'do not know' what is happening around us and that we have our 'head in the clouds'," a person pre-sent for the meeting said. Caruana reportedly told MCESD members not to go to him with wish lists because he had "noth- ing to disburse". It is this which prompted the Chamber of Commerce to state that the government speaks one way in private and another way in public. It is clear that there was so much emphasis in the last few elections on keeping every- one happy by throwing money at every sector that there was not even a minimal attempt at rein- ing in the largesse. There didn't need to be any shock waves either. As the chamber's vice president, Sil- van Mifsud, pointed out, a 10c increase in fuel prices in 2022 would have saved the govern- ment €100 million across four years. With that €100 mil-lion saved, he pointed out, the gov- ernment could have tripled its allocation towards solar energy systems, including solar panels and bat-teries. Other entities, like the Cen- tral Bank, have been warning us since last year that Malta needs an exit strategy from the subsi- dies. Instead, what we have had is a summer of unbridled waste of a precious resource because as long as prices are kept low, there is no reason for the public to be more prudent. The real test will come with what is announced in the Budget: Will Clyde Caruana finally bring our feet back on the ground with realistic measures or will we just keep hearing how Mal-ta is mag- ically safe from everything hap- pening around us? 3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 OCTOBER 2026 OPINION Josanne Cassar She has worked in the field of communications and journalism for the last 30 years The money has to come from somewhere The real test will come with what is announced in the Budget: Will Clyde Caruana finally bring our feet back on the ground with realistic measures or will we just keep hearing how Malta is magically safe from everything happening around us?