A message from Leader of the Opposition Bernard Grech

European opportunities ahead

The Maltese have long harboured an entrepreneurial spirit, which saw us trading with foreign partners since time immemorial. We are programmed to seek opportunity in adversity, let alone in times of peace. European accession provided Maltese business with the long-sought platform of unfettered trade within the most affluent consumer market in the world, not to mention the springboard for world trade within the network of EU international agreements.

The Nationalist Party saw this very early in the day. For my predecessors, the drive towards European Union membership was fuelled first and foremost by the eagerness of Maltese businesses to compete, to explore wider trading options and open new horizons. We believed in the abilities of the Maltese as creative people who can build bridges through commitment and integrity.

With accession, those ambitions started transforming into concrete deliverables for Malta, with clear trickle-down effects of quality employment, wider consumer choices and increased activity in B2B opportunities on the island. We created a virtuous cycle of additional growth thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Maltese and the political vision inspired by it.

The figures simply corroborate what is very clearly felt on the ground. In the first years of accession, our trade figures basically doubled. Moreover, over one billion euro spent in EU funding gave another spin to the economic wheel, translating into further growth.

Our experience of EU membership in the first years is testimony to our potential, and now equips us with more know-how to tap into the four freedoms of the European Union. We must however not take our past success as a guarantee of future endeavours. On the contrary, with Brexit now putting new hurdles to previously free trade channels and with the pandemic stressing several sectors of the market on the demand side, we must garner all our energies to chart the way for Malta to continue making a success of EU membership.

This will require, now more than ever, a coordinated effort into market and regulatory foresight, as well as the ability to mould forthcoming EU initiatives to better adapt to Malta’s interest. The Malta Business Bureau, being the only Maltese representative institution to have its offices in the heart of European decision-making, is certainly best placed to be a main actor in this ongoing challenge.

The Malta Business Bureau’s role will become even more central in the coming years, as Malta realises the importance of adapting EU legislation rather than lamenting on its negative impact after its adoption. Cases such as the new European trucking rules which penalise peripheral and island regions like Malta need to be anticipated and avoided if we are to continue making a success of Union membership. Similarly, the EU funding allocation for Malta for the years 2021-2027 needs to be deployed through adapted EU legislation and consequent local implementation, effectively allowing Maltese interests to fit within EU objectives.

As a government in waiting, the Nationalist Party certainly intends to bolster collaboration with the Malta Business Bureau and other representative organisations to see to the above objectives. We also believe that representative organisations which serve the public good should be better resourced through foreseeable public funding reserves and hence pledge to devise systematic formulae to allow business representation initiatives to grow in efficiency and capabilities once in government.