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26 Letters maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JANUARY 2014 Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. MaltaPost price hikes Further to Saviour Balzan's opinion column published in the 12 January edition of this newspaper, in which Balzan make reference to the recent increases in the rates of a number of postal services, please allow us to make some clarifications. According to postal services regulations, tariffs for postal services that are considered to be part of the universal service should be accessible to everyone. On the other hand, the law also mandates that these tariffs should be costoriented: that is, proportionate to the cost incurred by the operator to deliver this service, allowing a reasonable profit and avoiding any potential losses. Therefore, postal Not against citizenship scheme The write up carried in MaltaToday entitled 'Citizenship for a house', published in the 12 January edition of this newspaper, would appear to suggest that I am against the Individual Investor Programme. Actually I am not against it in principle. I just commented on the likely effects of the scheme on the property market, as I was asked to do. However, I think that the scheme has various positive effects, including that the increase in government revenue could reduce the burden of social welfare expenditure on government finances, rendering them more sustainable. The scheme can of course be fine-tuned to increase the emphasis on its investment aspects, so as to dispel the impression that it is just about "selling" passports. This would usher in a wider consensus regarding the scheme. Lino Briguglio Sliema tariff reviews have to strike a balance between these two contrasting objectives in order to safeguard both the interests of consumers and the long-term sustainability of the service. The MCA did in fact undertake an in-depth assessment of MaltaPost's proposals taking into consideration internal and external factors. The legal requirement for cost orientation as explained previously could not be ignored. Consideration also had to be given to the threats MaltaPost is currently facing, namely declining postal volumes for local mail and less favourable wholesale tariffs for incoming and outgoing international mail delivered by, or on behalf of, MaltaPost. Note that the latter were partially supporting the viability of 'social' mail products such as local letter mail. In its analysis of all these factors, the MCA concluded that in the long term, the impact of unsustainable universal postal services, or the failure to provide such services altogether, far outweighed the impact of the increases in respective postal tariffs. It is also worth noting that the postal tariff increases were directed towards loss making services. Having said that, the MCA remained sensitive to the negative impact such price increases may have on an individual basis. This was the main driving force behind the MCA's decision to only partially approve MaltaPost's requests in certain instances, such as those for newspaper post. The same consideration was also taken into account in the MCA's decision not to approve increases to the 0-50g 'standard' stamp, which remained unchanged at 26c, despite the fact that this is still registering losses and is still the cheapest tariff throughout Europe. With respect to consultation, the MCA did, in fact, issue a public consultation on the subject. A press release to this effect was issued on the 14 November and the consultation was widely covered in the media (see articles in the Sunday Times, the Business Weekly, the Independent and In-Nazzjon). The only respondent to the consultation was MaltaPost. Mandy Calleja Communications Coordinator MaltaPost Saviour Balzan comments: If MCA or any other agency want real public consultation, they should contact all the parties involved. Simply putting in an advert is a sham. More interestingly, please note the choice of media. Obviously, the MaltaToday was not a recipient of the marketing and public consultation process. The fact remains that the price hike sanctioned by MCA to Maltapost are fundamentally wrong. Priests are more than just 'meddlesome bachelors' With reference to John Gullaumier's letter 'Meddlesome bachelors', published on the 5 January edition of this paper, I cannot understand his hate for Catholicism. In my opinion priests and nuns are an asset to our community and are helping many people. For some time, this person has not lost any opportunity in order to criticise our faith. He has gone out of his way to denigrate every aspect of the Catholic creed. With religious issues one either believes that the universe was created by a Supreme Being or that Merlin's magic wand did the trick. As a Catholic I believe in the former theory but at the same time I respect those who consider other assumptions. Therefore I am at a loss to understand your correspondent's insistence in condemning those who believe in God and in Jesus Christ. In my opinion his time in writing these letters could be better used in helping the many Maltese who are going through desperate times. Maurice Mizzi Bidnija That necessary human touch The PN surrogate troika of Chambers of Commerce, the GRTU and the Employers' Association have set their sights upon Minister Marie Louise Colliero and Minister Godfrey Farrugia. Minister Marie Louise Coleiro Preca has invoked the wrath of the right-wingers by proposing egalitarian and humane measures to alleviate the plight of the workers and to enable them to have a decent standard of life. A cardinal sin if ever there was one, in the eyes of the profiteering exploiters; people who can hop on a private jet owned by a friend to watch a football game cannot tolerate the idea of a working class that actually enjoys a decent standard of living. Coleiro Preca is a thorn in the PN's side because, with the approval of Joseph Muscat, she is bringing back social justice into Maltese society, which had gone amiss during decades of PN rule. Her success would mean a long exile from the corridors of power, a dreadful prospect for the likes of Shylock. With regards to Minister God- frey Farrugia, he is responsible for a Ministry with a very high budget, apart from the fact that the ministry in question – Health – is a very sensitive one by definition. A good national health system will not only enhance the government's popularity, but also deprive the private sector of a large piece of cake… again, hardly a desirable situation for the Chamber of Commerce. Farrugia's other sin is that he is relentlessly trying to expose and rectify decades of favoritism and mismanagement. Recently, the PN spokesman for health chided the health minister for not being able to solve the problems despite being in power for 11 long months! I am bowled over. Does he even know how many years it took the government to complete Mater Dei Hospital? Last but not the least, whose bright idea was it to build a new hospital with fewer beds than St Luke's? What an example of vision and planning! Sarfraz Ali Mtarfa It's all about being competitive EDITORIAL • 18 January 2004 The number of jobless people out there has become a burning issue. The level of unemployment is a major source of concern carrying serious economic and social implications. The issue must be tackled head on. The announced meeting to take place between the Prime Minister and the social partners is most appropriate. We hope a line of action can be agreed upon and, soon after, implemented, to reach pre-determined targets. Tackling joblessness requires a serious and honest assessment of its causes. In essence, unemployment is rising because our country is no longer competitive. We are experiencing difficulties in competing on the international market. This is the cause and we are all best advised to find solutions based on this economic reality. Citing globalisation or the EU as the cause of rising unemployment is far too simplistic. It only reminds us of the Mintoff government blaming the global economic recession as the cause of our economic difficulties in the early 80s. Both globalisation and Europe have an impact on our economy, but the real cause is lack of competitiveness. Consequently, a more profound study analysing what is making our country uncompetitive needs to be carried out. The causes of our uncompetitiveness are various, including the working practices and the over-manning, especially in the public sec- tor. The exaggerated number of national holidays, the discrimination between workers in the public and the private sector, the halfdays for persons employed in the public sector, the monopolies which render certain services too expensive. The list is endless. This government – which traditionally and with great success has been perceived to be pro-business and sympathetic to the difficulties businesses encounter – risks losing its reputation as the better manager of the economy. It must pro-actively address the difficulties businesses are facing. The government is not all to blame. Private enterprise too must change and many private companies are still managed like small fiefdoms with no distinction between company and personal accounts. The Price Club scandal is a case in point. Overcoming these difficulties requires both the political will and the flexibility in the private sector. The Opposition is right in asking for a recovery plan but wrong in not putting up its own plans for public scrutiny and discussion. The Opposition should come up with some solutions. Private enterprise too must stop being parochial and look to the long term. One need not be a rocket scientist to individuate some of the steps which need to be taken forthwith: a freeze on all further recruitment within the public sector, downsizing the number of national holidays, removing most of the half-days from public sector employees in the summer. Added to this is the introduction of stricter control on government spending, tax collection and the war on tax evasion and ensuring that all government spending is both scrutinised and that it reaches the criterion of value for money, and makes the government agencies far more accountable. Most especially one must pro-actively chase foreign investment. The case of ITS [Malta] ltd exposes the delays, shortcomings and deepseated bureaucracy still prevalent and which is impeding the easy flow of foreign investment. Direct foreign investment will not come simply because of membership in the European Union. Lining up with Malta will be all the other acceding countries fighting for this same investment. It will only reach our shores if we are competitive and have the vision.