Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/307854
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 MAY 2014 News 2 "It is the Labour Party and politics which need Marlene Mizzi; it is not Marlene Mizzi who needs the Labour Party and politics. In this last year Marlene has proved herself. I hope that the electorate appreciates this in the coming elections" - Prime Minister, Dr. Joseph Muscat "Since she joined us in the European Parliament, Marlene Mizzi has been, one of the very distinguished members, both in the Chamber at large, and within the socialist group. She has proved to be an experienced Parliamentarian very soon, and has behaved as a staunch Maltese Patriot." - Mr. Miguel Angel Martinez, Vice President, European Parliament "Marlene Mizzi is exactly the type of person, we should have representing Malta in the European Parliament." - Mr. Martin Scicluna - Chairman of National Commission for Further and Higher Education Tel. no.: 2122 6845 email: info@mizzimarlene.com www.mizzimarlene.com Commission yet to take Malta out of excessive deficit procedure MIRIAM DALLI DESPITE reaching a deficit below the 3% of GDP threshold as estab- lished by the Maastricht criteria, the European Commission has yet to decide whether to take Malta out of the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) or not. When Malta was placed under the EDP, the government was given two years – until end 2014 – to reduce its deficit. While the Commission confirmed that the deficit for 2013 has now been brought down to 2.8%, Malta remains within the corrective programme. Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said both the government and the Commission wanted to ensure that Malta's deficit is sustainable. "The Commission gave us two years to reduce the deficit, ensur- ing that it would be sustainable and not risk falling in again after a few months," he told journalists in a tel- econference from Brussels. Asked whether Malta would remain under the EDP during 2014, Scicluna said he could not speak on behalf of the Commission. "As a government we presented the national reform programme, and the stability and conversion plan, which the Commission will have to assess." Asked once again what his forecasts were, the minister said he was "more interested in the country's financial stability than what the Commis- sion says... it is important to keep the country's finances stable. The Com- mission gave us until 2014 to meet the deficit target and it is now up to us to convince the Commission that our deficit is sustainable." The government is forecasting its deficit to continue decreasing next year, Scicluna said. Welcoming the European Commis- sion's spring forecast, Scicluna said that the outlook for "robust growth" had given the government more con- fidence in what it's doing to achieve results. "One has to read between the lines... we didn't like it when were placed under the EDP. The Commission thought our deficit would continue to increase but we insisted otherwise. A year later, the government was proven right and the Commission has recog- nised it." Noting that unemployment was forecasted to remain stable, Scicluna said he could "not understand" why employment had become a contro- versial issue in Malta, with the Oppo- sition insisting on rising unemploy- ment. Scicluna said a €320 million cash injection by Chinese firm Shanghai Power for a 33% stake in Enemalta, will create an inflow to the country's coffers. "Debt is expected to drop marginally over 2013 and then to 71% of GDP the following year." The minister also said he wanted the National Statistics Office to see why Eurostat was reporting a drop in retail trade. "This is being understat- ed and I want the NSO to look into it. How can you have a 2.4% economic growth but then no growth in de- mand is registered? Sales of cars, con- sidered to be retail trade, increased by a phenomenal rate of 24% during the first quarter of this year," he said. Finance Minister Edward Scicluna (right): "The Commission gave us two years to reduce the deficit"