Vince Farrugia storms out of MCESD in protest at draft consumer bill

Contacted, Vince Farrugia admitted his walkout from the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, together with GRTU president Paul Abela: “we had no choice but to walk out and send a clear message to government that there was no way we would have accepted this method of doing things.”

He explained that during yesterday evening’s meeting, parliamentary secretary Chris Said presented a draft bill that provides for the setting up of Consumer Protect – an autonomous consumer protection agency, which had been promised by government since the early 1990s and was only recently given importance after inflation rocketed to record levels last year.

According to Farrugia, no consultation was carried out over the bill, and government expected to present “such a sensitive bill” in the height of summer, giving just one month to constituted bodies to come forward with replies.

“GRTU considers this attitude as unacceptable,” Vince Farrugia said, adding that government has “reduced MCESD to a mere talking shop, where things are simply brought forward when they are already decided by government.”

Vince Farrugia’s antics meanwhile, have served their purpose as government has reportedly made contact with GRTU inviting them for bilateral meetings on the issue, in an obvious bid to quell tensions.

But Farrugia claims that another issue still remains unsolved with government as the recent government reshuffle has put competition and consumer protection in the hands of parliamentary secretary Chris Said.

“Competition is an economic matter and should be separated from consumer issues, and this anomaly must be addressed,” he said.