PM’s plans on Brussels appointment ‘are his prerogative’ – Scicluna

Finance minister Edward Scicluna seemed to have wanted to crown his first year, and perhaps last as government minister, with a send-off praising his achievements.

Scicluna today said it was Joseph Muscat’s prerogative to reshuffle his Cabinet, now that it appears that he will be Malta’s next European Commissioner and pave the way for a new vacancy inside the finance ministry.

Scicluna instead praised his government’s performance, saying that while the country achieved a 2.4% GDP growth in 2013, "there are strong indications" that the deficit will be kept below the eurozone’s 3% of GDP threshold.

The minister also said that job creation had increased by 2.8% with “5,000 new jobs created”, 1,500 of which were part-time employment.

He said unemployment levels were stable. “Less people are having children these days and that means less people will be entering the world of work than in the past,” he said in an explanation of the demographic context.

He said women, which remain underrepresented in the labour market, were “the untapped resource of the economy.”

“Baby boomers, born in the 1950s, still form a main part of the working population,” he said.

Scicluna said that even in Opposition, the Labour Party had calculated its fiscal measures to be prepared for government. “This government brought with it a new direction and a sense of stability with it,” he said, emphasizing that it had implemented a new budget whilst keeping the good budgetary measures of the previous administration.

The minister said that the government had brought with it a sense of credibility, citing the energy switch to LNG and investment in Enemalta from its new Chinese partners.

Scicluna also said the ministry will be setting up a Tax Policy Unit so that it could work in an integrated manner with the Treasury on economic policy.