‘Complain Directly To Me’, Robert Abela Urges Maltese Businesses ‘Terrorised’ By Institutions
Prime Minister Robert Abela has urged businesses who feel “terrorised” by regulatory enforcement action to complain to him directly.
“The government will help all institutions facilitate their decisions but we’ll also facilitate the lives of people and businesses,” Abela told a PL rally in Nadur yesterday.
“My appeal to self-employed people and businesspeople is this – if you feel terrorised by an institution, don’t stay knocking on doors. Come directly to me so that I can defend you and so that you can keep on working and investing in the country. We’re here for the people and we’ll keep on talking to and defending people.”
The Prime Minister said he expects “reason” from both businesses and institutions.
“We know that the absolute majority of businesses are in conformity with their obligations and those who aren’t can move towards conformity. However, we also know that no one is perfect. We don’t expect perfection, we expect everyone to be reasonable because we know that this country can keep on progressing when we all pull the same rope.”
In this vein, Abela criticised a recent PN bill that will criminalise public servants who use private emails, WhatsApp, Messenger or other forms of private communication to carry out government duties.
“The PN wants us to go to jail if we communicate with businesses via WhatsApp, but I tell businesses not to worry and to keep on speaking to me, because I will be a shield which is constantly ready to defend them.”
Abela’s intervention came shortly after Finance Minister Clyde Caruana delivered a strong warning to businesses that the government can no longer tolerate a state of play whereby some of them don’t pay their due taxes and pledged to do his utmost to deliver a “culture change” on tax collection.
Caruana said the government was owed around €5 billion in taxes and that measures will be taken in the coming months to recover tax due, even if it comes at the cost of denting his own political popularity.
Cover photo: Robert Abela and his wife Lydia Abela at a Nadur rally yesterday (Photo: Partit Laburista)
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