The Malta Independent on Sunday
Something must be wrong, very wrong, when we experience a situation where the English language media criticises the government on its public finance performance more effectively than the opposition.
In fact it is doubly wrong. Firstly it is very bad for good housekeeping and very bad for true democracy if we accept as if nothing the assurances given pre-election that government finances are in good shape and getting better (remember the billboard of the young handsome boy beaming his confident smile as he sat on his dad`s broad shoulders) and than we find out a mere 100 days after the election that reality points in the opposite direction. Secondly it is very bad that the opposition is still so traumatised` that it cannot find the energy to make a feast of this gross misrepresentation and allows the government-friendly English media to overtake it in this role.
Let`s get the facts clear first. Since the assurances given to us pre-election, nothing has happened to justify the gross deviation from the budget.` In making the representation that government finances were in good shape the government knew well that this is not so. It was in a position better than anybody else to know the factual reality about the state of public finances and it purposely and deliberately chose to misrepresent it.
Reality is that the current size of the deficit was already there when the budget was being put together. It was already there when the billboard assuring us on the healthy state of public finance was being put up. It was clear then as it is clear now that the budget was put together artificially to look decent until the election. Expenditure did not overshoot the budget. The budget was purposely undershooting expenditure already committed. Now the truth is emerging with vengeance.
Unfortunately many people do not make the connection between the state of public finance and their personal lifestyle and well-being.` We have lived for far too long in a culture where the disconnection between the government and the individual is all-pervasive except when favours are needed in exchange for votes. Many however believe that the public deficit and the national debt are problems of the government that need not concern the individual.
The moment we join the EU we will get a belated wake-up call to shake off this lethargy and start making the connection as EU rules force us to adopt good housekeeping benchmarks in the running of our domestic financial affairs.` The farther we drift away from the Maastricht criteria for Euro adoption the more painful will the adjustment process be if we really mean to take EU membership seriously and stop cooking things in our short-sighted way.
So the drift in public finance will sooner or later translate itself in higher taxes, cuts in social spending, cuts in government employment and state subsidies, lower economic growth, higher domestic interest rates, a weaker currency and a cocktail of other measures meant to make up for past excesses of over-consumption and cut us back to a size that would make us again competitive in a single EU market and a globalised world.
So it is imperative that the government be held accountable to its pre-election promises, statements and declarations.` The media and the opposition must continue to demand accountability from the government and the PN for the gross misrepresentation made in the presentation of the last budget and for the setting up of the billboard above referred to. Was the election perfectly timed for spring before the final real figures for 2002 and the first finance figures for 2003 expose the reality when they get normally published starting from the last week of April?
Unless we accept lightly being treated with contempt, we should insist on a full and independent investigation being launched if necessary under the aegis of the President of the Republic who may give instructions in this sense to MFSA as the regulator of financial services, and the Central Bank as the body responsible for financial stability.
And where does the opposition stand in all this Coming so soon after the election it is to be expected that the opposition should make a feast of the issue and go much beyond a mere holding of a press conference and a few articles by individual contributors in the press. The government has called for consensus over the matter realising that a true and lasting solution is beyond its sole powers. Probably government consensus is motivated by its wish to share the burden of the tough measures necessary to work public finances back to sanity. Be as it may the opposition has an opportunity to negotiate its acceptance by extending the consensus into other areas where it is grossly disadvantaged.
It is unfortunate that the opposition is still too busy with its internal post-election trauma. It needs to persuade the left side of the party why it is unavoidable that the new reality of EU membership must be accepted as irreversible, and the right side of the party as to why it was necessary to lose an election to come to such a conclusion. Unless the opposition emerges from its trauma quickly under a revitalised leadership that can give credibility to its new policy content, this country may have to rely on the media to keep a tab on an increasingly arrogant and complacent government that thinks that it can continue to avoid being held accountable for its performance or lack of it.
Something must be wrong, very wrong, when we experience a situation where the English language media criticises the government on its public finance performance more effectively than the opposition.
In fact it is doubly wrong. Firstly it is very bad for good housekeeping and very bad for true democracy if we accept as if nothing the assurances given pre-election that government finances are in good shape and getting better (remember the billboard of the young handsome boy beaming his confident smile as he sat on his dad`s broad shoulders) and than we find out a mere 100 days after the election that reality points in the opposite direction. Secondly it is very bad that the opposition is still so traumatised` that it cannot find the energy to make a feast of this gross misrepresentation and allows the government-friendly English media to overtake it in this role.
Let`s get the facts clear first. Since the assurances given to us pre-election, nothing has happened to justify the gross deviation from the budget.` In making the representation that government finances were in good shape the government knew well that this is not so. It was in a position better than anybody else to know the factual reality about the state of public finances and it purposely and deliberately chose to misrepresent it.
Just in case anybody points a finger accusing me of being wise after
the event, this is how I had criticised the budget last December soon after its
publication
‘The true deficit for next year is more like Lm113 million (as against the official Lm74million) and that only if new tax measures generating Lm6 million are announced out of budget. …..With this budget the Minister means to fudge the real issues and limp to the next election which will clearly come before the deficiency of the budget will have time to emerge.’
Reality is that the current size of the deficit was already there when the budget was being put together. It was already there when the billboard assuring us on the healthy state of public finance was being put up. It was clear then as it is clear now that the budget was put together artificially to look decent until the election. Expenditure did not overshoot the budget. The budget was purposely undershooting expenditure already committed. Now the truth is emerging with vengeance.
Unfortunately many people do not make the connection between the state of public finance and their personal lifestyle and well-being.` We have lived for far too long in a culture where the disconnection between the government and the individual is all-pervasive except when favours are needed in exchange for votes. Many however believe that the public deficit and the national debt are problems of the government that need not concern the individual.
The moment we join the EU we will get a belated wake-up call to shake off this lethargy and start making the connection as EU rules force us to adopt good housekeeping benchmarks in the running of our domestic financial affairs.` The farther we drift away from the Maastricht criteria for Euro adoption the more painful will the adjustment process be if we really mean to take EU membership seriously and stop cooking things in our short-sighted way.
So the drift in public finance will sooner or later translate itself in higher taxes, cuts in social spending, cuts in government employment and state subsidies, lower economic growth, higher domestic interest rates, a weaker currency and a cocktail of other measures meant to make up for past excesses of over-consumption and cut us back to a size that would make us again competitive in a single EU market and a globalised world.
So it is imperative that the government be held accountable to its pre-election promises, statements and declarations.` The media and the opposition must continue to demand accountability from the government and the PN for the gross misrepresentation made in the presentation of the last budget and for the setting up of the billboard above referred to. Was the election perfectly timed for spring before the final real figures for 2002 and the first finance figures for 2003 expose the reality when they get normally published starting from the last week of April?
Unless we accept lightly being treated with contempt, we should insist on a full and independent investigation being launched if necessary under the aegis of the President of the Republic who may give instructions in this sense to MFSA as the regulator of financial services, and the Central Bank as the body responsible for financial stability.
And where does the opposition stand in all this Coming so soon after the election it is to be expected that the opposition should make a feast of the issue and go much beyond a mere holding of a press conference and a few articles by individual contributors in the press. The government has called for consensus over the matter realising that a true and lasting solution is beyond its sole powers. Probably government consensus is motivated by its wish to share the burden of the tough measures necessary to work public finances back to sanity. Be as it may the opposition has an opportunity to negotiate its acceptance by extending the consensus into other areas where it is grossly disadvantaged.
It is unfortunate that the opposition is still too busy with its internal post-election trauma. It needs to persuade the left side of the party why it is unavoidable that the new reality of EU membership must be accepted as irreversible, and the right side of the party as to why it was necessary to lose an election to come to such a conclusion. Unless the opposition emerges from its trauma quickly under a revitalised leadership that can give credibility to its new policy content, this country may have to rely on the media to keep a tab on an increasingly arrogant and complacent government that thinks that it can continue to avoid being held accountable for its performance or lack of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment