Clyde Caruana is often considered a straight shooter. Especially when compared with some of his colleagues, the public generally regards him as someone who opts to avoid the theatrics that often comes with party politics.

He has on multiple occasions openly disagreed with his own party and more specifically the Prime Minister. His financial expertise and know-how has garnered him political favour on both sides of the aisle as a fitting and qualified minister. Although his honesty is often a breath of fresh air in the current political scene, some of his recent views have been based in dubious logic at best.

Most recently, Caruana has made headlines by expressing skepticism on the possibility of a four-day work week and mass transport system in Malta, as well as their implementations.

He stated that by looking into a four-day work week in Malta, the public sector alone would have to fork out around €360 million. Caruana warned against such a measure, arguing that such a shift is unrealistic, stating that “money doesn’t fall from the sky”

A few days earlier he also showed his reluctance towards adopting a mass transit system in Malta, as in his opinion the country could not afford such infrastructural investments with the current car-centred culture. He made it clear that he does not believe people would adopt these measures and therefore the project would not be feasible.

Caruana even joked how he is often seen as the opposition within his own party, and explaining how he feels “duty-bound to speak my mind about this because I don’t want this country to go into something and then realise that we’re making a mistake. If we get it wrong, we’re royally screwed.”

One must consider that the PL government has designed and orchestrated an economy based on rapid growth, and one that relies heavily on the mass importation of foreign labour. This in itself led to rapid development which has plagued our towns and villages and heavily increased their populations.

This has always been done without a real and solid infrastructural investment that paralleled growth and development, therefore the government is in an everlasting game of catch up, focused on trying to keep the electricity on and sewers from overflowing. Roads are dug up and done up again almost yearly all because they need to facilitate an economic model that is undoubtedly unsustainable.

What is being made more and more clear daily is that certain problems resulting from this approach have manifested themselves into a nightmare for all those living in Malta. Problems that the government continued to ignore have come to the surface; among these problems is a strained and exhausted workforce as well as an ever-growing traffic crisis.

It is fair to say that in every city there is traffic, and today the reality is Malta needs to be considered as just that, a city, therefore the solution cannot be found in considering areas individually or development on a case-by-case basis, but instead through a holistic approach that considers Malta as a whole.

A four day work week is not without its challenges and implementing it will not be easy. Alex Borg, the Opposition Leader, said he was open to trialing a four-day work week in select government departments and, if successful, in the private sector too.

Caruana almost instantly dismissed the idea. However, a four-day work week or some version of it would relieve the pressure off of Maltese families and allow them to focus their energy on more then just work. Giving the workforce another day in the week has been shown to increase physical and mental health, increase productivity if managed properly as well as reduce traffic and C02 emissions. Such incentives could also attract a more skilled workforce and attract Maltese people who are living abroad back to the islands.

Caruana’s approach to the metro or tram system, on the other hand, is completely contradictory to the current financial Government strategy. The Metro would cost €2.8 billion according to Abela since the proposal has been more streamlined, reduced from the original €6.2 billion design.

Stunningly, the government is currently fuelling its own traffic problem, as it is contradictingly subsidising fuel and electric cars concurrently. The fuel subsidy alone costs the Government €350 million annually with the European Commission already urging Malta to put an end to the subsidy.

When comparing Malta and Italy, for example, Malta’s fuel price has stayed stagnant at around €1.20 per litre for diesel, when compared to €1.7 per litre in Italy. The subsidy was guaranteed until at least 2026, but what is clear is that exorbinent amounts of money are being spent, subsidising Malta’s biggest issue. Putting an end to such a subsidy would already make available a substantial amount of funds.

This problem cannot be solved without tough decisions and this presents an opportunity for Alex Borg to show that he actually wants to solve this problem, and that this is not just pre-election hype that ultimately leads nowhere.

Traffic actually costs Malta’s economy big time, with the European Commission estimating that congestion and pollution costs Malta a whopping €400 million a year.

When you start adding these numbers up, Caruana’s statements start to make less sense and demonstrate that, when discussing these issues, there is definitely more then meets the eye.

With Alex Borg and the PN gathering political momentum it would be beneficial to both parties to think outside the box. Malta’s problems are not going away and like it or not this is the Malta we have inherited.

What can be done however is use our nation’s size to our advantage. Issues like traffic, overdevelopment and environmental protection can be mitigated, however long-term vision is going to be necessary alongside an openness to embrace new ideas when they come along.

Caruana must understand that frugality is important in his role, but one must also have vision and accept responsibility for the repercussions of our “economic success”.

Photo credit to Clyde Caruana