Former Prime Minister of Malta Lawrence Gonzi has advised the government to come up with “big solutions” to rescue the Maltese economy instead of taking a staggered approach.   

“We must ensure the economy is cushioned in the best way possible and we shouldn’t bring the issue of surpluses and deficits into the equation,” he said on a webinar organised by Anchovy. “The urgency of the moment requires us to embrace all those at risk. It’s good that we’re coming up with means to cushion the impact, but we need to move as fast possible.”

“Drip feeding is good when feeding a plant, but we can’t risk drip feeding here. We need to come up with big solutions quickly because this is a question of survival.”

“There is a limit, which must be carefully considered, but this isn’t the priority right now,” Gonzi went on. “This crisis has an end game for sure, we don’t know when that is but we know it is there and, on that basis, we must put all our money where our mouth is to defend our economy and the weakest in our society.”

Gonzi, who was Prime Minister between 2004 and 2013, appeared as a guest on a webinar organised by Anchovy to discuss how governments and businesses should react to times of crisis.

He recounted his experience leading Malta through the Arab Spring, in particular his decisions to criticise then Libyan leader Muammar  Gaddafi, to grant political asylum to two Libyan fighter pilots and to refuse Libya’s request for Malta to return their two planes.

These decisions, he said, were rooted in values to defend human rights and human dignity.

Gonzi urged businesses to take their humaneness to the extreme when taking tough decisions, to consult with people who have the courage to criticise them, to understand their priorities and not to postpone decision-taking.

“You need to take quick decisions, postponing difficult decisions is the worst thing you can do,” he said.

Gonzi also urged the government to leverage Malta’s advantages brought about by its small size.

“I remember a discussion I had with [then European Commission President] Jean-Claude Juncker and [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel during the 2008 financial crisis,” he said. “Other countries were making decisions on large packages but without really knowing where the money was going. We introduced a fund package in Malta too but we knew exactly where the money was going and how it was being used to save employment.”

“Being a small country of 500,000 people is often considered to be a disadvantage, but I’ve discovered that small is beautiful,” he said. “We have strengths we often don’t realise we have, and in a crisis these strengths become our best asset.”

What do you make of Lawrence Gonzi’s statements?