National reform programme 2008-2010 Malta - European Commission

Addressing Malta’s Specific Recommendations
Strategic Direction 2008 - 2010
The first cycle of the Lisbon Strategy has contributed towards improving Malta’s economic
growth and the provision of more and better jobs. The strategies proposed within the first
NRP have over the past three years yielded significant improvement in a number of areas
including the tourism, employment, education and environment sectors. The improvements
registered in these areas are encouraging, however, Malta is undertaking further actions and
reforms with a view to achieve the Lisbon objectives.
The Annual Progress Report presented by the Commission in December 2007 has given a
clear indication as to those areas which require immediate action by the Maltese Government.
Malta’s second NRP builds upon the first NRP 2005 -2008 and the developments that ensued
during this period also taking into consideration the Country Specific Recommendations and
the Points to Watch as well as the Spring European Council Conclusions in the four priority
action areas.
Addressing Malta Country Specific Recommendations
In its 2007 Annual Progress Report, the Commission highlighted Malta’s need to address its
weaknesses in relation to competition policy and persistent labour market problems. Within
this context, the Commission recommended that Malta:
• “strengthens competition, notably by reducing state aids and redirecting them towards
horizontal objectives as well as by reinforcing the competition authority and by further
steps in opening up professional services;
• steps up efforts to attract more people into the labour market, particularly women and
older workers; maintain efforts to tackle undeclared work and take further action on the
benefit system to make declared work more attractive.”
Reinforcing the competition authority to strengthen competition
The Government of Malta remains determined to strengthen the competition authority in order
to improve Malta’s competitiveness. In 2007 a new Director General and a Director for
Competition were appointed with a view to provide the necessary skills and expertise which
were required within the Consumer and Competition Division within MFEI.
Furthermore, a capacity building exercise was conducted within the Office of Fair Competition
(OFC) with a view to identify any human resource gaps in the various areas of operation of
the OFC. Following this capacity building exercise, the Consumer and Competition Division
issued a number of calls for the recruitment of qualified personnel in the Legal, Economic,
Pharmaceutical and Cost Accounting areas. Further recruitment is envisaged in the
economic and accounting sectors in the coming months. Over the next cycle of the NRP, it is
envisaged that the OFC increases its technical staff by 20% with a special emphasis being
made to address the following areas: school transport, transport coaches and motor hearses.
It is envisaged that through this exercise, the OFC will have the necessary capacity to extend
its capability to monitor price movements, undertake market analysis, merger studies and
take a more proactive approach in investigating allegations of market abuses. This
strengthening process will also permit the OFC to develop appropriate leniency programmes
and their proper implementation.
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