Labour MEP Prof Edward Scicluna on Tuesday 26 June,  called for European governments to give higher priority to policies aimed at improving the quality of life during a key-note speech at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

He told delegates that “the economic crisis has forced us to re-assess the traditional methods of policy-making and how we want to report on the state of our people’s well-being.”

Prof Scicluna was delivering the key-note speech at the OECD, which is the world’s leading economic think-tank. The conference on “Measuring well-being and fostering the progress of societies” convened around 300 politicians and economists from across Europe. EU Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta and Eurostat director-general Walter Radermacher were among the other high-profile speakers.

Prof Scicluna, who was speaking on behalf of the Parliament as Vice-Chairman of the ECON committee, told the audience that with economic growth likely to be slower than in previous decades, politicians needed to at the GDP and beyond.

Prof Scicluna said: “Politicians often measure their success on the economy by looking solely at the strength of GDP. But people measure their quality of life by a number of factors aside from their wealth and income.

Healthcare, good education, a clean environment, the quality of public services and opportunities for their family, matter more to them than the GDP.”

He concluded that: “Capturing quality of life is not as straightforward as economic production but is one of the biggest challenges facing politicians and society.”

– maltastar.com : Thursday, 28 June, 2012