While we have been distracted deliberately by fuss over gay rights, this serious business has been going on
No wonder The Malta Independent is doing so well in the rankings. It has some excellent stories about the real issues, and reports them in a manner that is easy to understand. Take this one on the ‘serjeta’ with which Enemalta and the deficit have been dealt with, while the prime minister twirls with Cyrus ‘revenge porn’ Engerer in rainbow flags.
While the prime minister and his energy minister were giving their ‘two cents off petrol’ press conference amid a sea of Malta and EU flags a couple of weeks ago, all this was going on (see the story in The Malta Independent – link below).
It’s astonishing how we have switched from a government that is concerned almost solely with the economy, jobs and education to a government which is concerned almost exclusively with side issues which it has turned into mainstream objectives in a massive exercise of elector-alienation.
Legislating for civil unions is the easy bit. It’s time we began worrying about the rest before we wake up to find that the party’s over.
People are not spending. The enthusiasm of a fresh, new government usually inspires a spate of consumer confidence. Instead what we have is the opposite: with the exception of a couple of shopping malls on the weekend, empty shops, deserted showrooms and new stock on discount.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-05-11/news/brussels-questioning-government-over-100m-in-missing-enemalta-tax-arrears-4941021184/
I hate to say ‘I told you so’. My immedate thoughts on Muscat’s “grand announcement” was that it was a cleverly-crafted divergence tactic to get the media to focus on the infamous 2c, while something drastic/disastrous/terrible would go by undetected until it fades into oblivion.
This is the problem with the PN leadership. It lets Muscat set the debating agenda , and so the electorate is alienated with secondary issues.
It takes more than just coming out of one’s shell; it takes leadership, strategy, oratory, empathy with the grass-roots. It’s just not there.
Your blog and independent.com.mt are about the only websites I visit to read up on Malta.
Although The Malta Independent should really hire someone to rewrite and maintain their website.
The design feels tacky, and the copyright notice at the bottom still shows 2012.
Having a good website, together with their existing content, I think they would easily become the leading news portal in Malta.
The Malta Independent failed to clearly spell out that the 3% deficit would mean excessive deficit procedures on Malta. That would mean no more iced buns for the thousands who are still waiting.
This was the €100 million surprise that never happened and Joseph Muscat had to settle for the 2 cents speech.
The EU is at his heels, Azerbajgan and China threw him out.
And somehow the millions from the passports are not materialising.
I think you may be correct, because 2 cents don’t make news. We all had suspected that he had something big but which fell through at the last moment.
The EU pulled the rug from under his feet, Konrad Mizzi sacked his energy chief of staff this same week, and the Chinese are asking Muscat hard questions about the cheap tariffs that are going to break Enemalta’s back unless he finds €100 million to replace that same amount that now has to be transferred from Enemalta books on to the government.
Joseph is done for in any way one looks at it. He’s toast.
When you speak about ‘not materialising’, are you just referring to their not materialising into the Malta Government’s coffers, or someone else’s?
Who says the millions from the sale of passports are not materialising?
We don’t know what is happening except for groups of people coming and going to the Evans buildings at odd hours and escorted by security men.
Can some financial guru explain to us whether Shanghai Electric benefited from this €100 million bonanza. They bought a 33% shareholding in Enemalta.
If it is so then the Chinese would have stolen €33 million from the Maltese people. Or Joseph Muscat has robbed us that amount and handed it over to the Chinese who have gladly accepted it.
And there go the 300 million euros paid by China.
Hierga l-verita Muscat, ja buffu.
Basta minghalik waqqajt ghan-n*jk lil Gonzi u l-PN.
Dalwaqt jinduna l-poplu min tmellah bieh.
Your last assertion will be difficult to ever materialize, I’m afraid.
It will be a very steep uphill climb for the PN to easily get back the 18,000 switchers who were duped in to believing Joey on March 8th, 2013.
Observer,
Let me take you back to 1996: Alfred Sant had lied to us only on one topic: The removal of John Dalli’s VAT regime. He had told us that:
This is the last chance to remove VAT.
(BTW, >The last Chance to do SomethingQtajtu qalbkom li tiggvernaw u tridu twahhlu fija, Imma jien mhux se nwaqqa il-gevrn<
Then Sant went one step further, invented a 6 million liri Cottonera project, and forced Mintoff to vote against this, thus having an excuse to go for an election which sant planned to lose because his economic policy went belly up and he could not continue to govern.
Then Sant lost that election by 14,000 votes, a turn around of 21,000 votes within 2 years from the previous 7,000 votes in favour of the MLP.
Imagine Joseph Muscat continuing with this economic debacle for 5 whole years……..
Today's voters are more prone to float as the 1998 ones were more prone to float compared to 1987.
Voters die and are replaced by new ones. Between 1987 and today, a third of voters have died and been replaced by new ones with more open minds, or more 'alabiebhom'
Time will tell. Be positive like Jo.
Mhux li kien jinduna l-poplu…kemm tqarraq bl-ikrah u min tmellah bih. Imma mid-dehra t-2c roħs fil-petrol qed terġa’ tgħammixhom u ma tħallihomx jaraw u jirriflettu.
..do you really think so?
Even someone like me, who knows nothing of economics, can understand what this means.
This is from an NSO report on Government finances for 2013:
“During 2013, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €276.4 million, outweighing the added expenditure of €177.3 million, consequently narrowing the government deficit by €99.1 million.”
http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3984
The increase of €276.4 million revenue included an imaginary payment of €100 million made by Enemalta. Since accounting should not be a work of fiction, the Government-published figures are deeply misleading (fraudulent?). In actual fact, revenue increased by only €176.4 million, against an increase in expenditure of €177.3 million.
The Government deficit was therefore not decreased by €99.1 million but actually increased slightly by about €0.9 million, unless there were other inaccuracies which we are yet to discover.
So much for the reduction of the deficit to 2.8%.
And let us not forget that, as the Opposition pointed out, the National Debt increased by €330.4 million.
And the 0.9 million actual increase – barring other inaccuracies still hidden from us – has will shortly be swallowed up through the ’employment’ of 70 or so cleaners (from the Cottonera region) that joe mizzi is distributing within the next two weeks. This gimmick will be costing the national purse around one million more per year.
The €0.9 million is an increase in the deficit. In other words, the deficit for 2013 was marginally greater than in 2012.
Instead of reducing it, Joseph Muscat increased the deficit. The PN should sink its teeth in this issue and not let go until the truth emerges.
The following is according to figures available.
A normal company closing its fiscal year on 31st of December, in April-May puts at analysts’ disposal the annual report of previous year, that is 2013.
Enemalta’s most recent annual report available is that of 201 – and now the reason is apparently clear: 2012 and 2013 reports would have showed the missing tax amount.
Regarding tariffs, in 2011 Enemalta’s total revenues from external customers in the electricity sector amounted to 332 million euros.
Reducing tariffs by 25% means revenues decreasing by some 82 million euros.
Conversion of Delimara power station to gas, new gas combined cycle and interconnector – in the best case scenario – will not be effective before the beginning of next year, therefore the decrease in tariffs is simply not sustainable.
Looking at the documents which the Malta Resources Authority published in relation to the approval of new tariffs requested by the government shows that the MRA and its independent consultant have verified the forecasts and assumptions used by Enemalta and that the new tariffs’ regime is sustainable.
Such assumptions, forecasts and calculations are not published.
The discordance between my and the MRA’s conclusion can be probably explained by a sentence on the MRA’s decision document, which is here:
http://mra.org.mt/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/5478/MRA-decision-electricity-tariffs-2014.pdf
Conclusion (Page 3) is that:
“The attached electricity tariffs review:
– confirms that the cost model aims to recover the full cost of operations less government subventions over a period of six years ending 31st December 2019.
– Target revenues cover the cost of electricity.”
The devil is in the detail: “less government subventions” means that govern will pay the missing revenues (said 82 million euros) to Enemalta, i.e. Malta’s taxpayers will pay for the energy discount.
Now, were I a journalist, I would ask the Malta Resources Authority to show the full set of documents regarding this specific decision so that it can be checked properly.
Malta’s taxpayers will pay for the energy discount.
Gahan is not stupid then.
Thank you for your analytical explanation. Just what I wanted.
I am reminded of the proverbial snake oil salesmen. They can fool most of the people some of the time but it is not as easy fooling the bean counters in Brussels. The amateur Labour administration will soon find it difficult to continue to fool most of the people, except of course those mindless supporters who still believe that the Mintoff era was Malta’s golden years. When the manure hits the fan I’m sure the knee-jerk reaction will be a tirade against the EU for not letting them to take Malta to ruin.
Or the PL will, for the nth time during the last 50 years, accuse the PN of being traitors.
I do not think that the EU will stop us from self ruin. They will just take over when we do.
I don’t know much about economics and finances. What I know, though, is that the money has to come from somewhere and, from what I’m reading, it is not really rolling in, now, is it? I rather suspect that we will one day wake up and find ourselves living the Greek situation. Then, we can really and honestly say we are in this mess: (cit. Courage to vote video).