Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/744537
9 Muscat's social reforms Joseph Muscat's strongest ar- gument was his impressive list of achievements in the last three years in power, added to the so- cial measures introduced in the budget; a list which includes free childcare for all, in-work benefits, a full minimum wage for disabled persons who cannot work, and a plethora of social benefits ad- dressing different social catego- ries. He also linked childcare to the emancipation of women – insist- ing that each child put in child- care means one more independ- ent woman in the workforce – thus underscoring the role of childcare as an integral part of children's socialisation and edu- cational development. Muscat's other strong point was that of showing leadership on mi- gration issues by defending his vision of Malta as a cosmopoli- tan hub and rejecting xenopho- bia even if he makes it a point to mention the legitimate concerns of Marsa residents and that "il- legal immigration" is now under control. He also scored points with liber- als by recounting the story of a gay couple who adopted a disabled child whom nobody else wanted to adopt, something made pos- sible by the introduction of civil unions. Busuttil's failure to refer to immigration and civil liberties was a major shortcoming. Busuttil scores on energy policy Muscat's weakest argument was his poor reply to Busuttil's strong critique of the government's en- ergy policy. On energy Busuttil convincingly argued that the reduction of en- ergy tariffs was achieved thanks to the investment made by the pre- vious administration in the inter- connector and the BWSC plant, and the drop in international oil prices. For the first time Busuttil is credible on this issue simply be- cause what he says reflects reality. Although the new power station is not yet operational, the gov- ernment was still able to reduce tariffs, close the Marsa power sta- tion, and take credit for reducing emissions. He questioned the government commitment to buy energy at 9.6 cents from ElectroGas Ltd when energy can be bought from the interconnector at between 3 cents and 6 cents. He countered Muscat's argument that this will bring stability in pricing, claiming that this will result in "a stability of high prices". He also deflected Muscat's pre-election depiction of the BWSC plant as a cancer factory by emphasising the virtues of the interconnector, which pro- duces no emissions in Malta. He also questioned how Muscat is now against further reductions in energy prices when the price of oil has fallen to an all-time low, though he wanted a reduction when oil was more than double its current price. He did not shy away from committing a future PN gov- ernment to buy energy from the cheapest source even if this could be in breach of existing contracts. How Busuttil will renege on these contracts remains a mystery. The main weakness in Busuttil's argument is that he apes Muscat's pre-election energy populism by calling for a reduction in energy prices instead of diverting any savings towards investment in renewables. The other weakness, exposed by Joseph Muscat in his reply to Busuttil's speech, is that in the absence of the ElectroGas investment, Malta would still have to rely on heavy fuel oil or more expensive but cleaner diesel. For the conversion of the BWSC plant to cleaner natural gas would not happen without the advent of the LNG tanker. But Muscat was economical with the truth when he claimed that the Marsa plant was closed down because of the new ElectroGas plant. In fact the Marsa plant has already been de- commissioned even if the Electro- Gas plant is not in operation. The other weakness in Busuttil's argument is that while Muscat was lucky to see a fall in interna- tional oil prices, he still honoured his pledge to reduce bills for both businesses and households when the price of oil was not yet low. Busuttil's argument for further reductions comes across as being rich coming as it does from an ex- ponent of a party which presided over hikes in energy prices. Once again Busuttil attacks Muscat not for inflicting additional pain, but for not giving enough. This makes his attack weaker. Ideology: who is more socialist of us two? Muscat once again boasted of his pro-business credentials and was keener on emphasising a clampdown on abuse of social benefits than any action against tax evasion, something that he only mentioned once with refer- ence to the black economy in the rental market. But Muscat used the social measures introduced in the budg- et to counterbalance the criticism that his government has veered too much to the right. On balance Muscat remains clearly centre-right when it comes to wealth creation and centre-left when it comes to wealth distribu- tion, a model which is probably in synch with the expectations of most Maltese. The question is whether such a model is sustain- able and whether it is too de- pendent on accelerated growth in construction and other sectors attracted to Malta because of its favourable tax regime. Busuttil tried to project himself as a people's tribune relating sto- ries of common people on low or normal wages, facing high rents and costly medicines, but steered away from any concrete or radical measure addressing these prob- lems. He may have shown that the party's heart is with the peo- ple who are paying high rents and earning low wages, but its mind is still not made up. Despite his emphasis on social justice it remains unclear whether he agrees with an increase in the minimum wage or what measures a PN government will take to ad- dress rising rents. Busuttil simply says that nobody should have less than a certain standard of living. Busuttil did position himself to the left of the Prime Minister with regard to the privatisation of healthcare, clearly making a pitch to traditional Labour voters by presenting himself as being more socialist than the Prime Minis- ter. Busuttil insists that since the main concern of the private sector is profit, this is irreconcilable with the public nature of the health sector. That is a principle with which any Maltese political leader be- fore Muscat would have agreed. But how would Busuttil draw a line between privatisation and subcontracting parts of the health service to private entities, as done by previous PN governments? It also remains to be seen whether Busuttil's discursive shift to the left will change tribal loyalties simply for hearing the 'S' word which Labour has long ditched. But in showing a remarkable readiness to confront big business interests, opposing privatisations in health and energy, high-rise permits and land reclamation, Busuttil is coming across as an unlikely anti-establishment fig- ure, confronting a Prime Minister who has the demeanour of a pop- ulist, but whose business model hinges on more opportunities for big business. Busuttil, who presented himself as a son of a self-employed own- er of a tool shop, also effectively targeted the self-employed, pre- senting an effective comparison between the €360 million bank guarantee for ElectroGas and the lack of funding for start-up busi- nesses. But short of announcing a policy, which will be addressing this sector, Busuttil did not offer anything to this sector except a promise to reduce electricity bills. But Busuttil is right in identifying small shop owners as a strategic sector, which may well shift to his party if offered a good deal. Mirror, mirror on the wall… bwho is the most honest of us two? Busuttil was formidable in his denunciation of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri and Mus- cat's failure to kick them out. He also hinted that at the right mo- ment the people would know who the owner of Egrant is (the name of a company opened in Panama on the same day as those of Kon- rad Mizzi and Keith Schembri). Egrant may well be the PN's weapon at the next election, al- though in the absence of concrete proof linking Muscat to Egrant, this may come across as specula- tion. But Busuttil knows well that by retaining Mizzi and Schem- bri in Castille, Muscat has cast a shadow on any deals involving the two. Surely the mystery surround- ing this third company will return to haunt Muscat at election time. Muscat did not even once refer to Panamagate and Busuttil's ques- tions on Keith Schembri's conflict of interest in negotiating business deals on behalf of the govern- ment. But the major problem for Bu- suttil is that of reconciling his commitment for honesty and good governance with the past track record of PN governments. The problem is that as Mus- cat observed, many are willing to agree with Busuttil on this is- sue but few are willing to make the leap of faith and believe that Busuttil is any better. His over- sensitivity and paranoia about any accusation of impropriety com- mitted by members of his front bench, suggests double standards. Busuttil was justified in ques- tioning Muscat's speed in ap- pointing an inquiry into a police investigation related to a compa- ny of which Beppe Fenech Adami was a director, and the failure to launch any inquiry to investigate the police failure to start a Pana- ma papers investigation, among many other scandals. But his attempt to suggest that MaltaToday formed part of a "fas- cist" conspiracy for revealing that a police investigation into a com- pany of which Beppe Fenech Ad- ami was a director was postponed in January 2013 to a date in April 2013, was spurious. Ultimately it was Busuttil who decided to turn "honesty" into his main electoral plank. This makes him and his party fair game. It is up to Busuttil to convince the electorate that the sins of the past pale in comparison to what he refers to as the "corrupt men- tality" which pervades governance in the country. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt maltatoday, SUNDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2016 Budget 2017 Strongest, weakest arguments Keywords Social categories most mentioned People (in-nies) 23 Workers 21 Self Employed 11 Gozo 14 Elderly 9 Financial Services 5 Southern Labour localities 4 Manufacturing 4 Issues Vision 15 Benefits of interconnector 12 Electricity bills 11 Low wages 9 Social Justice 9 Environment 9 Quality of life 8 Good Governance 8 Corruption 7 High rents 7 Traffic 7 Health 7 Medicines 6 Privatisations 6 Obesity 6 Gas Tanker 6 Air Malta 5 Deficit 5 Poverty 5 Government expenditure 4 High-rise 2 Zonqor 2 Land reclamation 1 Negative Targets Konrad Mizzi 13 Electrogas Ltd 13 Keith Schembri 10 Panama 10 Joe Mizzi 4 American University 4 Michael Farrugia 2 Chris Cardona 2 Joe Debono Grech 1 Alfred Sant 1 Positive references Caritas 6 Chamber of Commerce 3 Beppe Fenech Adami 3 Joe F X Zahra 2 Chris Said 2 Tonio Fenech 2 Alfred Baldacchino 1 Alfred Sant 1 GRTU 1 UHM 1 MEA 1 Marthese Portelli 1 Attacks on government Cosmetic budget 6 Supposedly socialist 4 PM as salesman 3 What Simon said "I am not a socialist but on this issue (the privatisation of health) I am surely more of a socialist than you are" "When the oil price was 120 dollars a barrel you were a champion of the reduction of electricity bills. How come you are against a reduction when the oil price is 50 dollars a barrel?" "Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi are an albatross around your neck. Try as much as you can but you won't make people forget about Panama" "Who is Egrant? At the right moment we will all know"