ADPD The Green Party has described the government’s Vision 2050 strategy as a “superficial spectacle” driven by powerful lobbies, with Chairperson Sandra Gauci saying that the long-term plan prioritises GDP growth over social justice, environmental protection and genuine well-being.
In a statement, Gauci referred to the way the government had turned what should have been a long-term discussion about Malta’s future into a superficial spectacle instead of a serious and in-depth debate.
“The government has just launched Vision 2050 with great fanfare. The truth is that despite the attractive imagery and ceremonies, there is no genuine effort to change the basic premises of the government’s policies towards a society where well-being comes first,” she said.
Gauci said that Vision 2050 has reduced itself to an “egoistic wishlist of powerful lobbies.”
She said that the ADPD participated in the public consultation and submitted a document outlining the principles which it believes should guide the country.
“While Minister Schembri boasted about the consultation process, he did not even have the decency to discuss the party’s proposals. This is the consultation the government is proud of, one conducted with the usual lobbies who want business as usual,” Gauci said.
The full document submitted by ADPD in response to the public consultation has already been published and can be read online, the party said.
Gauci said the government’s vision is based on an economic model that does not respect ecology, fails to take into account the social, ecological and economic challenges posed by climate change, and consequently fails to respect people, neither today’s generation nor future ones.
She described it as a mentality that leads to the unsustainable use of the country’s resources and to continuous abuse, such as what is happening at sea through pollution generated by multi-million-euro industries, including tuna farms.
She welcomed the Vision 2050’s idea that economic growth alone, as measured by Gross Domestic Product, is not sufficient to assess progress.
However, she argued that in the same breath, the declared targets remain almost exclusively focused on increasing GDP, while ignoring well-being and quality of life, or treating well-being as if it were linked solely to individuals’ income levels.
Gauci said that the document focuses on financial services, aviation, gaming and high-end manufacturing, without explaining how these sectors will achieve zero-carbon targets.
On tourism, Gauci said Vision 2050 continues to encourage growth in tourist numbers and appears to suggest large-scale land reclamation projects for speculation.
She criticised the document for completely ignoring the need to reduce the use of local resources, as well as imported resources and the pollution associated with them.
She also said it fails to examine tax reform aimed at favouring companies that meet social, ecological, democratic and economic criteria promoting social and environmental well-being.
Gauci described it as unfortunate that pollution and the impacts of economic activity on people and the environment are still treated as “externalities,” where profits are retained by owners while society bears the cost.
Gauci said ADPD’s “Green Vision” is based on well-being and quality of life, social and ecological justice, respect for natural limits, efficiency and sufficiency in the use of resources, and good governance, where the economy is guided by accountable institutions that pursue the common good of both present and future generations.
She said that a green vision looks beyond economic growth as measured by GDP, adding that under such measurement systems, an increase in illness leading to higher medicine consumption, or greater fuel consumption leading to more pollution, could ironically be recorded as “growth” simply because certain sectors’ profits increase, even if society suffers.
She said there was a need for in-depth reform of the financial and taxation systems to break a cycle of “rapid profit at any cost,” and instead, there should be policies that encourage long-term investment.
“Essential sectors such as energy, water, agriculture and transport, all dependent on natural systems, should be managed according to ecological principles in order to reduce their impact on the climate, the natural environment and ultimately on people themselves,” Gauci said.
Gauci said the economy depends on a variety of small and medium-sized enterprises and called for specific policies to support cooperatives and forms of economic activity that strengthen the common good.
She called for an economy that increases worker participation in management and rewards long-term investment over financial market speculation.
“A serious long-term vision cannot avoid confronting which economic sectors are unsustainable and planning for their gradual phase-out,” Gauci said.
She added that Malta cannot continue subsidising sectors that harm both the environment and people, and called for measures to tax excessive accumulation of wealth while rewarding labour, thereby directing financial resources towards social and ecological investment.
“We must move beyond the idolatry of concepts such as ‘growth’, ‘competition’ and ‘innovation’ as ends in themselves,” Gauci said, adding that these should instead be tools to achieve better quality of life within nature’s limits.
She said that Malta needs an economy grounded in social justice, ecological justice and equality, and achieving this requires a serious and in-depth discussion, not an artificial exercise characterised by “glossy documents and spectacles that simply reinforce the status quo.”
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