EU’s warning to Malta: adopt concrete measures to back up budget

Let us see what the next budget will bring. We already are transfering over 700 euros to the big euro fund. Now we need to dig for more. I suppose now we need to start cutting the salary of state workers and pensions. I wouldn't be surprised. They wouldn't raise taxes on their millionaires - i mean euro millionaires.

People may not know, but China was at one time a huge empire. And it seems that in the next 25 years, they will be at that peak again. Say waht you may, but mark my word, and it's now China time.

What a lot of people are not realizing or talking about is that today, the US and Western Europe as well as the Japanese no longer totally and completely control the world economy. ON top of that tehe US and WEstern Europe and (that includes our little Malta with no natural resources) have been living high on spending and massive credit. Well, today, wealth has to be shared with the Chinese, Indians and Brazilians as well as other countries. What we are seeing is a redistribution of wealth and whether we like it or not, that will continue. And why not. Why should other countries not be equal to the US, Western Europe and Japan. It's the new new. That is how it is going to be and everyone needs to learn to live with less. Women had joined the work force in the past 50 years and that contributed to increased wealth as well and more spending. Now, all that has been exhuasted. Accept the facts for what they are and learn not to be too greedy. Look at the maltese average worker. They have not gotten a raise or got a measle raise for over 5 years. Thank god that you at least have a job. What I hate the most is some greedy people who have millions and billions of euros, dollars or other currencies and then they give a little bit to charity. Well, how did they accumulate that kind of money. And on top of that, they don't pay taxes as well. Well, is that fair. NO I might add. Well, governments will do well to tax those individuslas and stop this kind of theft from government and peoples. moneys.

B'has soltu kulhadd jghid u icaflas. L-ewwel li il-kommentaturi kellhom jaghmlu hu li jaqraw l-artiklu sew. Veru miktub biex juri li l-EU qed tammonixxi il-gvern ta' Malta. Jekk dan kien l-iskop, Matthew Vella biss jista' jghidilna. Apparti minn dan. Din l-ammonizzjoni li l-budget deficit ghandu jinzel taht it-3% tal-GDP, l-EU ilha taghmila lil membri kollha, u minn meta l-Grecja, l-Irlanda u l-Portugal giehom l-inkwit l-EU haga naturali li qed taghfas izjed fuq dan il-punt. Imma hafna mill-kommentaturi dan l-anqas biss jafuh ghax is-Super one biss jaraw. It-tiena haga l-EU fahhret il-gvern ta' Malta talli dis-sena ser igib id-deficit taht it-3%. Il-figuri jghidu li dis-sena ser ikollna deficit ta' 2.7%, u fil-2012 ser taqa' ghal 2.2%. Dan juri li mexjin fit-triq it-tajba mhux kif xi kummentaturi qed jghidu: dawn bhas-soltu ma qraw xejn u jekk qraw ma fehmu xejn, jew jekk fehmu qed jghidu xorta ohra biex min ghalihom jghaddu pedina ghal Labejr. Tant ghandhom tgerfix go rashom li jsemmu s-salarji tal-MPs bhalha wahda mill-konsegwenzi li ghandna budget deficit, ihaltu haga ma ohra. Iz-zieda fis-salarji tal-MPs kibret biss b'Eur0.4 miljun fis-sena ghax il-kabinett ckien. Din m'jistghux jihfmuha ghax l-anqas somma tat-tfal ta' ghaxar snin ma jafu jaghmlu. Jew inkella taparsi ma fehmux biex ghamluha ta' cuc, li mi xejn difficili ghal-dawn it-talin. U x'ghandha x'taqsam l-Arriva li qed taghti servizz bil-wisq ahjar milli kelna, ma' l-budget deficit? Veru dawn in-nies tajbin ghal-kawlata. Mhux ta' b'xejn jivvutaw Labejr. Kieku kienu sura, kienu jiktbu xi haga bis-sens u jikkomparaw id-deficit ta' Malta ma dik tal-pajjizi ta' l-EU u jkunu jafu kemm ahna qeghdin tajjeb. Issa biex tnaqqas il-budget deficit, trahhas il-kontijiet tad-dawl u l-ilma? Trid tkun altru stupidu biex tghid dawn ic-cucati. Jew tghid li ser tintroduci il-living wejc, igifiieri il-haddiema jibdew jithallsu kemm ghandhom bzonn biex jghixu? Igifieri niehdu tnejn minn nies li jaghmlu l-istess xoghol: wiehed ghazeb u joqghod maill-genituri, ma jhallas la kera, la telephone, la dawl u ilma, u jaghti xi haga lil-ommu biex jiekol u biex tahsillu hwejgu jekk jaghti, la jpejjep, jixtri libsa kull hames snin. Mela dan miskin intuh Eur10 000 fis-sena u jkun kuntent. Lil dak li ghandu mara u zewgt itfal, ghandu home loan, ghandu car loan, imur jiekol barra darba fil-giemgha, isiefer darba fis-sena, ipejjep zewg pakketti sigaretti kuljum, il-mara tmur ghand il-hairdresser u ghan-nail polishing, u tmur ghal-massaggi u l-dan intuh Eur25 000, allavolja jaghmel l-istess xoghol. Dan x-ragunar bazwi hu? Jekk tghidha lit-tfal ukoll jidhku bik u jghidulek li hi cajta. U llum taghti ic-cejca lejlet l-elezzjoni; dak Mintoff kien jaghmel hekk ghax il-maltin kienu bil-guh u jikkuntentaw b'kullma jiddubaw. Mela llum meta kulhadd sinjur, isiefru, jixtru karozzi, Tvs kbar, Pcs, Ipods, Ipads - anki t-teenagers. Meta l-istudenti jgergru li m'ghandhomx parking places u kollha lebsin pulit u ghandhom il-gid kollu tad-dinja qed jistennew ic-cejca. Veru hawn nies jixu fil-qamar u mhux f'Malta jew jisimghu biss is-super one. Qalulna li wiehed minn hamsa f-Malta jghix fil-faqar, fil-faqar fl-edukazzjoni mhux fil-flus. L-Amerika wiehed minn sitta qed jghix fil-faqar, mela il-Maltin saru amerikani allura; qabel il-Maltin kienu jmorru l-Amerka biex jghixu ahjar u issa qed joqoghdu Malta.

The cost for servicing the debt that our illustrious ex pm Edward and his puppet Lawrence (more like dumb and dumber )burdened us and our children and grand children is 500,000 euros per day , more then enough to build a school ever day.If the EU wants us to take them seriously they should start by penalize gonzi and his minister for the 500euros they gave themselves in secret ,not increasing the age for the pension, bunch of bullshitatists .

This country has to be run in a more efficient way and in order for this to happen people must be held accountable for their actions. During the last three and a half years we went through numerous occasions where the administration was incapable of delivering what was promised and expected. Let us for example take the Arriva fiasco where on the vigil of the change over from the old system to Arriva we heard a lot of boasting that this would be a revolution in public transport system and that the days where everyone does what he liked or pleased where over. We wake up the next day and we find a very different reality from what was promised the night before. First they blamed the drivers for not showing up for work then they blamed the local councils and the users for lack of feedback. They always blame others but they never blame themselves which are the ones responsible for what happened. Is this the way we envisioned Malta in 2011?

@Salgister Thank You Hsibtu Demartino li HALLEWH l-Art Il partitarji Nazjonalist Bhalissa DONNU WAQA FIL MUTA ghax XEJN mhu qed JIGIH TAJJEB lil Dr Gonzi il gvern tieghu Imma nahseb li dan Demartino dak li HALLEWH l-art fl-elezjoni jigi minnu

This is hardly news. These organizations Moody Standard and Poor etc are quietly making a mint out of these statements at the expense of everyone. They tried to Downgrade the USA - but failed! The issue is that regardless of the issue of these DownGrades the EU Nation States are all compounding their debts by using Property Values as their bargaining tools. This is absolute rubbish for you cannot export houses as you can goods. The Government of Malta through the Minister of Finance Economy and Investment (mr Tonio Fenech) has for many years been inviting New Companies and Businesses to Malta to develop an Export-Driven base upon which it can move forwards. Most of these have been successful thanks to the hard work being carried out by Malta Enterprise run now by Alan Camilleri and Dr Licarri and his Team of Top professional advisors who have encouraged major businesses to Malta even though there was an international recession two years ago which is only now just ending. Stop knocking Malta and start making resounding praises for Malta and its studious and intelligent work force. They are the back-bone of the real export-driven economy and will be the ones who will fill the vacancies we see being created in the Renewable Energy and Renewable Fuels programmes which are being heralded in the press earlier this year. These new greener energy projects are a win win solution for Malta for they will not only provide freedom from relying wholly on fossil fuels (oil and gas) for energy power and fuels for transport but they will be long-lasting shifts in emphasis that will be for the better for all in Malta. The initial hard-ships in building up these Renewable Electricity Energy and Biofuels Projects being developed to their fullest potential (as we will soon see with the wind turbines, sea turbines, Photo-Volytaic and Solar Power developments and as we will also see with the Bioethanol Plant being built here in Malta these will pale into significance when the price of oil reaches USA $250 a barrell (or €180 a barrell) and the Chinese and Indian nations wil be buying it up before your very eyes and you won't have a say in it! So when you see these developments and you find that they cannot be fully matured in one term of a Government stop moaning for we all intend to live longer than this ome-termism. And when you read in another Malta Newspaper (the Malta Star) that the Parliamentary Labour Party Leader complains at the fact that Salaries are not keeping pace with inflation - so what. This is exactly the same issue across the whole of the European Union at this time, and we the people must realise that for every increase in salary to combat inflation another person may lose his job. If then everyone wants a 5% salary increase then collectively they should think about the 1 person in 20 that will lose his job as a consequence and then the reamining 19 will have to pay for that person's salary for being out of work. It isn't funny! This is the position we are all in and we should be attempting to address it collectively both at the core (Macro-Economy area) and in the local (Micro-Economy area.) In that we can all accommodate a tightening of our expensive tastes for the sake of us all. Malta is a rich country that has lots to offer the tourists, but why does it concentrate so much on the 7-day 14-day tourist when the market is driven by the short-hop weekend breaks that start on Friday evening returning on Sunday night? This is a niche market that Paris Rome Venic frankfurt Praha Barcelona Casablanca now offers and some of these are further away from the starting bases than Malta. Athens from Stockholm for a weekend, why not Malta from Syockholm or from Belfast or Bonn? These are real issues and they can be managed to the betterment of the overall Malta. Yes the EU Commissioners do have their points but get it all into perspective We in Malta all have our part to play here and we should go for making it better.

JPGEM. Dak qatt ma hareg ghall-elezzjoni la tal-kunsilli u lanqas generali. Demartino li qieghed issemmi int u persuna differenti. Giovanni Demartino hu ex-teacher u bhalissa qieghed igawdi l-pensjoni li tah Mintoff.

Hawn sur Giovannone Demartino KULLHADD qied JISTENNA irrisposti minghandek dwar dawn L-AKKUZI TAL Unjoni Ewropeja u MOODY's lil gvern ta QALBEK jew issa WAQAT FIL MUTA bhal meta il PARTITARJI NAZJONALISTI HALLEWK L-ART

Some years ago, when the wise guy Jonny Dalli was challenged about the country’s debt (which was half of what it is to-day) he said that it was not the people that were in debt, but the country! AS if it is not the people who made up the country. . Now, his wise successor (after GonziPN) Tonino Fenech has told us that it is not the Government that was downgraded by Moody’s but the country! . Could our Giovanni Demartino tell us the difference between the above two statement? I am waiting to read a reply Giovann!

Kollox qed jigih hazin lil Gonzi. Qabel l-elezjoni kellu hsieb iwieghed (kif ghamel l-ahhar darba) hafna mizuri li jrebbuh il-voti. Issa bil-Moody's u l-EU gabuh daru mal-hajt.

VERU NEMMEN LO OL PL MA GHANDUX JIKKONTESTA LELEZZJONI LI GRJJA. IL MUMENT LI JIRBHU KOLLHA JIBDEW JEIGHDU LI DAN IL MESS PAPALI TIGHU. KIEKI JIEN JOSEPH INHALLIEH HEMM LIL GONZI HA JNADDAF HU IL MESS YEW JISPICCAW KO;;HA HAZIN. HAZIN HAFNA...TIPO BIL ALI!!!!

Daqqa ohra taht ic-cinturin ghal GonziPN f`inqas minn gimgha. Issa x`se jghamel???? Ma fadallux assets xi jbiegh aktar hlief il BOV. l-AirMalta hadd ma jrida. Mhux ta` b`xejn qed jiddiskutu elezzjoni ghal Marzu. Darba GonziPn kien qal li EFA ghabbieh bis-salib. Issa nahseb li s-salib kompla jitqal, irid iwikkieh lil haddiehor. Il-Vapur qed jeghreq u l-grieden ga bdew jaharbu.

MINTOFF meta tkun QORBOT l-elezzjoni kien IROXX ic CEJCA Sur Giovannone Demartino imma il gvern tieghek ta Dr Lawrence Gonzi meta qed toqrob l-elezjoni mhux ser IROXX CEJCA Sur Giovann imma BZAR fl-ghajnejn ser IROXX ghax il kaxxa ta Malta TAQBILA IL QIEH

KUNTENT Sur Giovan DeMartino bdawn il FIGURI biex TARA kemm il GVERN tieghek MEXXINA il QUDDIEM L-ewwel Moody's min GRADE A1 NIZLUNA Grade A2 u Issa L-Unjoni Ewropea STESS TALBET lil gvern tieghek ta Dr Gonzi biex JIRRANGA ID DEFICIT LI GHAMEL IL HOFRA dik li kien qal Dr Alfred Sant kontra sieheb l-iehor Dr Eddie Fenech Adami INSEJT meta Dr Alfred Sant kien qal li HEMM QOFRA Dr Adami qal li KIENET HRAFA Min hawn ghandek tkun taf kemm MORNA IL QUDDIEM Sur Demartino ARA INTI il PARTITARJI NAZZJONALISTI DEJJEM FIL HOFRA HALLEWK GHAX QATT!!! MA TELLAWK MP

Xifajk, I think that you will find the minimum wage per hour is only Euro 3.80 see:- http://malta.cc/investment-opportunities/minimum-wage-malta/

EU means hardships to the Maltese Nation What are the benefits/advantages from joining the Fenech Adami EU? What are the benefits/advantages from joining the Lawrence Gonzi Eurozone? The answer is quite simple - HARDSHIPS, POVERTY, HIGHER COST OF LIVING, HIGHER TAXES, HIGHER UTILITY BILLS and Lesser Democracy The EU is run by conservatives thats why the world is such in a chaotic state The minimum wage/rate per hour is €27, the minimum in Malta is €12. How many of us reach that €12 per hour? How is our €12 per hour compares the the MEPs €?? per hour How long do they have to work for a pension? How long do the Maltese to geta pension ? Does the EU mean Justice for one and all? The EU is just an Elite Club for the few

Why dont they tell us about the enormous cost of the centres for illegal immigrants? Didn't anyone from the EU suggest that these cannot be afforded by the Government??

Dawn huma l-ħniżrijiet li trid tagħmel l-Unjoni Ewropea. ** Trid li l-ħaddiema jieħdu l-pensjoni, jekk jilħqu jeħduha, meta jkollhom iktar minn 67 sena u tridha wkoll mas-70 sena. ** Ara huma jitilgħu darba fil-Parlament Ewropew jew jinħatru Kummissarji u barra l-miljuni ta' ewros li jieħdu jieħdu pensjoni fenominali u ma jgħidulhomx m'hawnx flus jew inaqqsulhom il-pensjoin. ** Għalhekk hemm bżonn li nitilqu mill-Unjoni Ewropea jgħidu x'jgħidu dawk li qegħdin fuq il-ferrovija taz-zalza (Gravy Train) tal-Unjoni Ewropea.

debt debt debt - by the government and the consumer like there is no end to today. People still not cutting back and traveling less. Let us hope not. Meaning go back to the 70's and 80's. Malta came a long way, but what happening in Malta today is that we have created a bubble of real estate as what happened in the US, and We do not have any national resources, except the sun. There are too many unneeded public projects going on as well that are not needed. This was not the time to go and build massive projects costing millions and millions of euros so taht we can employ foreigners (legal and ilegal migrants ) as well. Malta needs to increase it work supply poor slowly and not to have a bubble of people without jobs. What happens then.

Isimghu hbieb, qed tiehdu l-impressjoni bhali mir-ritratt li Tonio Fenech mhu qed jifhem xejn milli qed jghidu t-tnejn l-ohra?

The past is catching up with Gonzipn, SOONER than the web-spinners at the OPM thought .... with taxpayer’s money spent as if it was The Nationalist Party /Gonzipn’s own on pre-electoral promises, and government’s power of incumbency, and on the “web of powers” weaving GonziPN’s spins! . Who is now "Unashamedly unrepentant" and blaming it all on the people? Will there be a repeat come the next general elections? . Alfred Sant proved right again, and is proved to have more foresight than Gonzipn's team of Ministers of limited talents . http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/05/18/n1.html

Il-madoffi x'parir dak gej mill-EC! Issa x'naghmlu gejja l-elezzjoni seer nissikkaw ic-cintorin (kliem Mintoff) jew nifthu idejn berah u ma naghtu kaz ta' xejn u nkomplu nezlin inhaffru l-isfel (fl-ahhar insibu z-zejt). Imma bil-haqq ghandna wiehed imexxi b'par idejn sodi u l-ajjutant tieghu ta' Birkirkara (forsi mhux xi cuc Malti) kapaci jmexxi ( ghax bil-haqq dan jista jkun il-futur Prim Ministru skond l-Amerikani) u jmexxi sewwa u nahseb li m'ghandux hbieb u hbieb tal-hbieb!!!!! Viva Malta falluta, kemm konna ahjar meta tal-PN kienu jghidu li konna aghar man.

Imbasta par idejn sodi u paroli fil vojt! Now, who will have to make good for these recommended austerity measures? The reality is one: The Eurozone is in a state of collapse and we will go down with it because of Gonzi's obsession with the Euro. This is similar with the Arriva. Before its advent, everyone was happy to get rid of the old bus service. Now that we have it, we want the old bus service again. The Maltese never learn. I hop ethe PN is re-elected in the next elections...umbaghad naraw il-par idejn sodi!

We all knew that this was coming. But with our incompetent Finance Minister and eventually the Government, mistakes are still being made. What does it take for GonziPN to wake up from his sleep - a bankrupt Malta? Shame is too good for a word for our Government.

These recommendations will be hard for gonzi to swallow seeing an election is near,first thing he should do is reduce his and his incompetent ministers salary.