'PN in government will not be bound by any constraints' - Grech at Chamber meeting
The PN on Monday met with the Malta Chamber of Commerce to discuss the Chamber’s proposals ahead of the 2025 Budget.In a statement, the PN said that the party in government will not be bound by any constraints to address the problems businesses
The PN on Monday met with the Malta Chamber of Commerce to discuss the Chamber’s proposals ahead of the 2025 Budget.
In a statement, the PN said that the party in government will not be bound by any constraints to address the problems businesses are facing.
Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said that the PN in government will be able to bring about change.
“We have the political will that others do not and can never have to provide businesses with the solutions to the problems they face today, primarily those related to competitiveness, traffic congestion, and governance,” he said, as he led a PN delegation with the Chamber.
Malta Chamber officials, led by President Chris Vassallo Cesareo and CEO Marthese Portelli, explained to Grech that many of the proposals presented in the Chamber's Pre-Budget Document had already been put forward, but only 1.8% were adopted by the government.
They continued that in fact, of 219 proposals, only four were accepted in the 2024 Budget. The Chamber is reintroducing these proposals for this year's budget in a document called "Time-up," which identifies 12 areas that need to be addressed as soon as possible.
The Chamber explained the need for a budget based on more added-value and argued that the economic model based on population growth is not sustainable, emphasizing the immediate need to address existing problems as quickly as possible.
Grech recalled that four years ago, he proposed holding a national conference to analyse and address the challenge of population growth, but at the time, this proposal fell on deaf ears.
He said that now, government has announced a new policy to align migration with labour market needs, four years late.
“Time can no longer be wasted,” Grech said, adding that businesses in Malta are feeling the burden of inaction in various sectors, but the Labour government lacks the political will to address the problems they face.
Grech was accompanied by PN Deputy Leader Alex Perici Calascione, PN Whip Robert Cutajar, and PN MPs Jerome Caruana Cilia, Graham Bencini, Ivan Castillo, Ivan J. Bartolo, Rebekah Borg, and Claudette Buttigieg at the meeting.
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