Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party expressed its concern of Malta’s downgrade by Moody’s. AD said that even though this is very much related to the global economic situation, the current political instability in Malta was not helping things.

Michael Briguglio, AD Chairperson and Spokesperson for Economy and Finance said: “It is a fact that current economic turmoil at EU and global levels have a great impact on the Maltese economy, which is an open economy. Yet, the irresponsible behaviour of MP Franco Debono and the political manouevering of the Nationalist Party are not helping things”.

“Such political instability risks acting like a snowball, causing economic instability. To date, Malta has managed to avoid the latter, notwithstanding the fact that the labour market is
characterised by increased exploitation and precariousness and notwithstanding the fact that our economy is too reliant on unsustainable activities such as
over-dependency on fossil fuels and on the building industry”.

“Given that the Nationalist Party does not hold a parliamentary majority, and given that Franco Debono has apparently decided to keep the country guessing on his next political move by issuing vague statements, the only way out is a general election and national consensus to adopt electoral reforms that guarantee true pluralism. The Nationalist Party’s decisions on parliamentary sittings and on its leadership contest are simply strategic ploys to give time to the Party to take advantage of its incumbency, also by gathering data on non-voters in the upcoming local elections”.