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Chamber – leaving country without a budget ‘the height of irresponsibility’
Chamber of Commerce says political difference are healthy, but MPs should be aware of consequences to economy if budget is not approved.
6 December 2012, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
Malta's chamber of commerce has expressed its concern at events likely to unfold next Monday, if Nationalist MP Franco Debono does not support the government's budget, prompting early elections for 2013.
In a statement, the Chamber of Commerce said it was "extremely worried" about the consequences that a non-approved budget would have, saying the continued uncertainty that has now prevailed for the greater part of the year would continue to hurt the economy.
"Leaving he country without a budget for reasons which have nothing to do with the budget itself is the height of irresponsibility. The Chamber would accept a refusal of the budget if such budget was shown to be flawed. This however is not the case."
The Chamber said that there was general consensus amongst the social partners that the budget presented last week was a budget that "aims to consolidate national finances and that will support the private sector in its efforts to continue to create economic growth."
The Chamber said it while political differences were a sign of a healthy democracy, it could not accept that the well-being of the economy be sacrificed for political gain.
"If the economy goes down, it is the whole country that suffers. If the economy goes down the first casualty will those people who will lose their jobs. All politicians must be fully aware of this," the Chamber said in a reference to Debono, who has time and again warned he will not support the government's budget.
"Whilst acknowledging the political dynamic that the country currently finds itself in, the Malta Chamber is calling on all parties to act in a responsible manner and to be guided by the nation's well-being. Politicians on both sides of the political divide have very often professed to be guided by the national interest. Now is the time to show that this is indeed the case."
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
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The "national interest" to see the budget through lies squarely on the shoulders of Dr. Lawrence Gonzi and not on Dr. MUscat's shoulders ! But Dr. Gonzi has ignored "the national-interest" and preferred the " nationalist party's interest" instead !
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This is nobody's fault but that of Gonzi. He should have known better
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These "bravi" should have been addressing their concerns to GonziPN since Easter of 2012.
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Ghax ma fethitx halqa qabel? Kienet taf x'qed x'qed jipprova jaghmel GonziPN: isalva is-siggu tal-poter minghajr ma jaghti kaz l-interess tal-pajjiz! Issa ic-Chamber kemm messa tghid lil Prim Ministru biex l-elezzjoni issir fit tieni gimgha ta Jannar-biex ma issofrix l-ekonomija- flok ma issir f'Marzu bhal ma qed jippjana Dr Gonzi -mhux imhabba l-pajjiz imma ghax hekk jaqbel lilu u lil Partit tieghu!
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Come on, how can the chamber of the commerce be worried about the budget failing to pass just now! It was obvious that this possibility existed even last June. The writing was on the wall! They should have worried then in June and not now at the last minute. There was the long extended summer holiday going on and they did not worry about this. It shows how unprofessional and childish this chamber is!
Perhaps the chamber is in league with the infallible current government that has recklessly squandered taxpayers funds for the current 4 years at the least!
Luke Camilleri •
Dear Chamber – Don't be a CHAMBER POT!
NOT KEEPING TO BUDGETis ‘the height of irresponsibility’, and you Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen that form The Chamber should know!
Did Gonzi & Co. ever keep to a Budget....especially to BUDGET 2012 where they even got a telling off from the EU?
Why did you not issue a statement than?
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The chamber of commerce has always been a "forcina." For the PN. We all know who is leading the chamber. So blame the pn and dont try to shift this gaffe to others
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That shouldn't be a problem Hon gentlemen of the chamber just petition Gonzi to call an election on the 10th of Jan and Presto you are back to having normality
Zack Depasquale •
Have the Chamber of Commerce been hibernating for the past year and have just woken up? Do the Chamber of Commerce expect the Labour Party to get Gonzi out of this mess, a mess he created all by himself? This instability in Government is all the Prime Minister’s fault and it has been going on since this time last year. Gonzi knew since August that the Budget was in jeopardy of not passing through Parliament yet he still continued to plod on, as the seat of power and the interests of the clique were more important than the good of the Nation. Because of Gonzi’s hard headedness we are going to have an election campaign during the Christmas season, we are going to have delivery of voting documents on Christmas day that is the absurdity we reached under the ex-President of the Azzjoni Kattolika.
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How trite! The Chamber should direct its wrath at the one and only person responsible for this political mess, the Prime Minister. No doubletalk or spin will ever hide the fact that he sacrificed the country's stability for political gain. Now we all have to face the consequences. The Chamber should be careful in their statements.....we may start thinking that they serve a different master!
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So a whole year of uncertainty, without a practising Parliament does not worry these people, but early elections do. I wonder if certain people have yet to gorge via the power of incumbency. The CoC should have pushed GonziPn to call early elections, when it was as clear as daylight that this Government had lost its majority.
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What right has the chamber to state that politicians would be acting irresponsible if they vote against the budget???
The PL has declared quite clearly its concerns why it is voting against!
I do not think that we should have arrived at this point as Government should have acted months ago to resolve this situation in good time to have an election and a stable government who would have had a majority to pass the budget from parliament!!
This is what the Chamber should have worked for during the past year if their intentions are honourable!
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issa stembahtu, ilna 10xur bil kumidji had ma jaf fejn qiad, jew ghax jaqblilkom.
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History will repeat itself. The 2011 Budget took months on end, or we have forgotten already?
Lets go for the Elections. Why didn't the Malta chamber ask for responsibility with the income Tax Brackets or they only care for their own interest?
Was the camber bothered when the people voted for Divirce and the Nationalist Goivernment"GonziPN" voted against the will of the majority? was the chamber bothered when Gonzi and Co took 600 euros behine our backs and gave the workers just 1.16 euros?
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@Chamber of Commerce. With all due respect, you never voiced any concerns about the way GONZIPN was treating us, the Maltese & Gozitan people! Where were you when there was the Euro 500 wage increase to the cabinet, the increase in the utility bills, the BWSC scandal, the Arriva fiasco, and many more!!!!! Why should you, all of a sudden, start talking about RESPONSABILITIES from our polititians???? This is disgusting from your side. Please, do us a favour and just shut up! And let Dr. Debono do what he should have done a year ago!!!!!
Mark Fenech •
The Chamber should have been worried since early months of this year, but they never opened their mouths. They should have drawn the attention of the gonzipn way back to March of this year, but instead of going for election, gonzipn, decided to hang in power taking very long holidays in Easter and Summer to avoid taking votes in parliament, but the Chamber remained very quite in all these months, now they are worried. People have been worried much longer Messrs. Chamber, or are you feeling sorry for gonzipn, having been forced to call an election, something that it should have done 9 months ago at least. Power is now returning to the people.
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The Chamber has shown very little national interest when it left the situation deteriorate, quote "for the greater part of the year" and did NOTHING. Why is the Chamber speaking out NOW, why not a year ago. Was it not the height of irresponsibility on the part of the Chamber to leave things be only to come out now with its rhetoric. Why did not the Chamber act responsibly much earlier for the national interest.
