MEP Edward Scicluna – ‘Governments must look at GDP and beyond’

Labour MEP Prof Edward Scicluna has called for European governments to give higher priority to policies aimed at improving the quality of life during a keynote speech at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

Sciluna told delegates: "The economic crisis has forced us to re-assess the traditional methods of policy-making and how we want to report on the state of our people's well-being."

The OECD conference on 'Measuring wellbeing and fostering the progress of societies' convened around 300 politicians and economists from across Europe. EU Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta and Eurostat director-general Walter Radermacher were among the other high-profile speakers.

Prof Scicluna, who was speaking on behalf of the European Parliament as Vice-Chairman of the ECON committee, told the audience that with economic growth likely to be slower than in previous decades, politicians needed to at the GDP and beyond.

"Politicians often measure their success on the economy by looking solely at the strength of GDP. But people measure their quality of life by a number of factors aside from their wealth and income. Healthcare, good education, a clean environment, the quality of public services and opportunities for their family, matter more to them than the GDP," Scicluna said.

"Capturing quality of life is not as straightforward as economic production but is one of the biggest challenges facing politicians and society."