Commenting on the European Commission’s Country Report for Malta, published on Thursday 26th February 2015, the Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna stated, “I am delighted that the word ‘progress’ features so often in the Overview Table of Malta’s CSR summary assessment.”

In its report, the Commission acknowledges that Malta has made “progress” on the considerably majority of its CSRs, most prominently those CSRs which pertain to containing the deficit and debt, encouraging greater levels of labour market participation especially among women, and strengthening the work-relevance of education and training.

In two particular instances, the Commission also describes the ‘progress’ as being ‘substantial’ and the recommendations as being ‘fully addressed’. In fact, the report states that Malta has made ‘substantial progress’ in correcting the excessive deficit and in implementing measures concerning public procurement procedures, and has ‘fully addressed’ the recommendation on the fiscal framework, with the adoption of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the appointment of the members of the Fiscal Council.

The Commission also notes that Malta has made progress towards strengthening the energy sector and diversifying the energy mix, cutting down bureaucracy and red tape, and also increasing the efficiency of judicial system.

 

 

The Commission also acknowledges the robust performance of the Maltese labour market remarking that “starting from a low level in the middle of the previous decade, labour-market participation and employment rates in Malta have been much more dynamic than in the rest of the euro area.”

The Ministry for Finance also notes the Commission’s remarks regarding the need for more progress on the pension’s system reform. In this area, the Government is confident that once the updated public pension expenditure projections, together with the recommendations made by the Joint Pensions Working Group, are published, an open bi-partisan discussion with the social partners can take place, so that further progress can be achieved.

Thursday 26th February 2015