Stagħġibt dan l-aħħar b’ġest tal-Viċi President tal-Kummissjoni Ewropea Valdis Dombrovskis. Bagħatli ittra biex jirringrazzjani għal intervent li għamilt quddiemu xi żmien ilu. Kien dwar bidliet li ried idaħħal fil-proċeduri ta’ kif joħorġu u jinżammu policies tal-assigurazzjoni.

Il-bidliet, kont sħaqt, huma aċċettabbli u tajba. Biss, messu jingħata aktar żmien lil azjendi żgħar biex iwettquhom. Dawn kienu qed jaqblu li l-bidliet għandhom jiddaħħlu, imma kellhom problemi kbar biex ilaħħqu mal-iskadenzi li tpoġġew għat-twettieq.

Meta qajjimt il-punt Dombrovskis ma aċċettahx. Qiesu suġġeriment maħsub l-aktar biex bħal f’każi oħra, miżura mħejjija għal għaqda Ewropea tas-swieq kapitali, tiġi mwarrba. Filfatt il-problema ffaċċjata minn impriżi ċkejkna kienet reali u tqajmet f’pajjiżi differenti, mhux Malta biss. Ma’ oħrajn, bqajt nagħfas dwar hekk. Fl-aħħar instabet soluzzjoni raġonevoli billi ngħata nifs fit-twettiq tal-proċeduri l-ġodda.

Nammetti li apprezzajt il-kortesija li wera l-Viċi President Dombrovskis bl-ittra tiegħu.

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IS-SUQ TAL-KERA

Hi ħaġa ċara li minkejja ċ-ċaħdiet li nisimgħu, hu ta’ min jagħti widen għall-argumenti li t-tkabbir ekonomiku qed iqanqal dak li jissejjaħ “overheating” – meta partijiet mill-infrastruttura tal-pajjiż ma jkunux qed jirnexxilhom jilqgħu tajjeb biżżejjed għar-rankatura li tkun qed tinħoloq. Il-mod kif is-suq tal-kera qed jiskossja juri dil-ħaġa.

L-effetti soċjali negattivi qed jinħassu sew. Jidher li hemm għarfien tagħhom bil-ħsieb li jiddaħħlu miżuri li jikkumpensaw għalihom. Biss l-effetti ekonomiċi wkoll iridu jingħataw attenzjoni.

Fuq l-għoli tal-ħajja. Fuq il-pagi. Fuq il-prezz tal-art u tal-bini. Fuq il-pjani li l-familji u l-impriżi jagħmlu dwar il-futur. Fuq il-preżenza tal-ħaddiema barranin li jgħidulna, saru kruċjali għall-ekonomija Maltija.

Safejn naf jien, ftit li xejn għandna mudelli li jgħinuna nifhmu kif dawn il-pressjonijiet jistgħu jiżviluppaw. Nittama li għandi żball f’hekk.

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KUMPANIJI ĊKEJKNA

Fil-qasam diġitali qed jinħolqu modi ġodda ta’ kif twelled kumpaniji ċkejkna ħafna (l-hekk imsejħa “micro”) u kif trawwimhom. Issa, hawn Malta għandna esperjenza kbira fil-ħolqien u s-sostenn tal-“micro”. Il-maġġoranza enormi tad-ditti tagħhna hekk huma u dejjem kienu. Biss fil-maġġoranza tagħhom ukoll huma kienu marbuta l-aktar mas-suq lokali.

Żgħira kemm tkun żgħira, hu diffiċli għal kumpanija fid-diġitali biex tirnexxi billi tillimita l-ħidma tagħha għas-suq intern. Jekk mhux impossibbli.

Li hemm inkoraġġanti f’li qed jiġri hu li qed jinħolqu kumpaniji ġodda li b’mod kreattiv, jipprovaw iwettqu servizzi immirati għas-suq diġitali globalizzat. Se jkun hemm min ifalli, min iżomm fil-wiċċ b’diffikoltà, min jirnexxi sew. Hekk kif l-Ewropa tinsab fi proċess li bih qed tirregola s-suq diġitali fil-ħafna aspetti tiegħu, dawn l-inizjattivi jixirqilhom attenzjoni u appoġġ kontinwi mill-awtoritajiet publiċi.

English Version – Insurance Services

I was surprised recently by a gesture from European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis. He wrote to thank me for an intervention I had made in his presence some time ago. It was about changes he wanted to introduce in procedures governing the issue and management of insurance policies.

As I had emphasized, the changes being proposed were on the right track and acceptable. Still, more time needed to be allowed for smaller enterprises to put them into effect. These were in agreement with the need to introduce the changes but were facing huge problems to launch them in the timeframe that had been adopted.

When I made the point, Mr Dombrovskis remained unconvinced. He put it in the same bracket as other remarks that had been made in the past which sought to derail proposals meant to promote a European capital markets union. In fact, the problems being faced by the smaller enterprises in theinsurance sector were real and had arisen in different countries, not just Malta. With others, I continued to press the point. Eventually, a reasonable solution was found that provided sufficient time for the implementation of the new procedures.

I admit that I appreciated the courtesy shown in Mr Dombrovskis’ letter.

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Rental markets

It is obvious that for all the denials which are issued, one still needs to take into proper account the claims about how economic growth is triggering overheating. The latter happens when components of the country’s infrastructural system fail to accomodate satisfactorily the momentum that is generated. This is being demonstrated by how the rental market has been buckling under the stress of growth.

Negative social effects have been registered, about which to be sure, there seems to be an awareness coupled to the intention to compensate for them. However the parallel economic effects also need to be dealt with.

Such as regarding: inflation; wage levels; the price of land and housing; the plans made by families and enteprrises about the future; the presence of foreign workers, now claimed to have become crucial to the Maltese economy.

As far as I know, we have few if any models to help us understand how pressures in such areas could develop. I hope I am badly informed about this.

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Micros

In the digital sectors, new ways are being created of setting up very small (called “micro”) enterprises and of promoting them. Now, here in Malta we have a longstanding experience in the establishment and support of “micros”. The enormous majority of our concerns belong to the category and always has. However in their majority they have mostly been focussed on the local market.

No matter how small it is, a digital company would have problems if it tried to limit its business to the internal market. Conceivably it would find it impossible to do so.

What is encouraging in current developments is that new companies are being established which in a creative way, strive to supply services designed for the global digital market. Some will go under, others will keep afloat with difficulty, others will prosper. While Europe is proceeding with measures to regulate the multi-faceted digital market, these initatives merit attention and continual support by public authorities.

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