In May 2013 compared with April 2013, the volume of retail
trade rose by 1.0% in the euro area (EA17) and by 1.2% in the EU27, according
to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
In
April retail trade decreased by 0.2% and 0.5% respectively. In May 2013,
compared with May 2012, the retail sales index dropped by 0.1% in the euro
area, while it rose by 0.5% in the EU27.
In Malta the growth was registered at 0.3%.
The feed in tariffs scheme for industrial and commercial
scale installations which expired on June 30 has been extended for three months
pending replacement. Hence the scheme will now end on September 30. GRTU has
been the prime instigator of such a move and is therefore very pleased to see
its proposal taken up.
A Tunisian business
delegation led by the President of the Tunisian Chamber of Commerce Mr. Nejib
Mellouli paid a courtesy visit to GRTU on Thursday 27th June. GRTU's deputy
president Philip Fenech welcomed the delegation at GRTU.
The
potential of doing business between the two countries was discussed which also
led to an agreement of mutual cooperation for the promotion of agricultural and
fishing investment and trading relations between Tunisia and Malta on the basis
of cooperation and mutual benefits.
During
the meeting various types of business were discussed that could bring value
added to Tunisia and Malta.
To
the extent that self-employed choose of their own free will to run businesses
on their own account, there is no issue. Employees who become genuinely
self-employed are a normal part of the labour market and the economy.
Therefore
consideration is or should be given to how they can benefit from joint
facilities like integration into existing organisations and inclusion in
different parts of the social security systems and pension schemes, health and
safety in the workplace and accessibility to vocational training institutions.
If
the change is however not based on a genuinely free choice of self-employed
status, social risks are in practice transferred from the firm to the
individual workers. This leads to abuses ranging from evasion of social security
contributions, through tax evasion and abuse of labour rights, to undeclared
work. This is a serious distortion of competition for the genuinely
self-employed, micro businesses and SMEs.
The
real issue is of protecting genuine self-employed against the abuse of their
status by two different groups:
1. The employers who continue to recruit
workers in precarious conditions to offer cut-price services against
competitors
2. Free riders who under the guise of
self-employed act in direct competition with genuine self-employed without
abiding to tax, standards and other licensing and wages regulations, succeeding
in eating away substantial ratio of markets at the expense of the genuine
self-employed who abide by all applicable laws.
In
this regard it would be useful if especially problematic sectors were
identified, where such abuse occurs most frequently, and standards of work are
agreed upon that would serve as guidelines for the sector.
The
competitiveness of genuine enterprises must be safeguarded and placing further
burdens on working regulations will do more harm than good to bona fide
self-employed and micro businesses. Reliable regulation is the safeguard itself
to sham self-employment. Sham self-employment should be combated through better
registration and monitoring of the real position in the labour market. Malta's
labour regulations are strong enough to avoid abuses of self-employment and no
further regulation is required. What is required is tackling directly
problematic sectors and helping them abide by the current regulations.
Public
procurement must ensure it does not reward any abuses to further tackle unfair
situations. We however strongly object to regulations that in any way reduce
the opportunities of subcontracting to self-employed and small firms. Any
proposal in this direction would completely disregard the way contracts are
performed in Malta. The vast majority of contracts in the public or private
sector are mainly of joint ventures between major contractors or enterprises
with the ability to work on major contracts, and a vast array of small firms
and genuine self-employed who work on a subcontracting basis. This is a right
that is given by various EU legislation so much so that 420K of micro and small
firms in the EU participate in subcontracting across border within the EU
single market. Maltese legislation cannot hold SMEs from other EU member states
from competing for subcontracts on public sector tenders and it will be
completely unacceptable if while other EU businesses can compete Maltese
self-employed and small firms are prohibited.
The
issue for GRTU remains one of the abuse of the self-employed status. This is
too widespread and GRTU has been insisting all along to provide the necessary
institutional structures to minimize or abolish this abuse.
GRTU has this
week written to Government with its position on the Commission communication on
Protecting businesses against misleading marketing practices and ensuring
effective enforcement.
GRTU stated that it welcomes
the communication on misleading marketing practices and supports the
Commission's view that stricter regulation is required to effectively ban and
enforce exemplary and dissuasive sanctions against, certain aggressive directory
company sales practices.
GRTU is very pleased with the
suggested actions against misleading company directories, i.e. fraud cases
where small companies are invited by a business directory to update their
contact details under the false impression that they will be listed free of
charge, only to discover later that they have unintentionally signed up to a
paid contract. EU-wide rules are fundamental in this respect as scammers
increasingly operate cross-border, which makes enforcement very difficult.
This is something we have
experienced the negative effects of first hand with thousands of Maltese micro
and small businesses falling victims of such deceptive marketing practices.
Misleading company directories in particular have been a scourge for SMEs for
decades. Cases are now on the rise, as technology makes it easier and
cheaper for scammers to mass mail their
fake offers. GRTU has taken up responsibility at national level, with actions
ranging from and awareness raising to legal disputes
Given its nature, GRTU
believes that the appropriate legal basis should include, but cannot be limited
to, the Treaty's provisions on the internal market and its scope of application
should not be restricted to cross-border transactions. Furthermore, the GRTU
warns of the need to give attention to the trans-European nature of many of
these practices, which requires coordinated international action.
As rightly pointed out by the
Commission, the hardest cases to tackle are those involving scammers operating
crossborder within the EU. Small companies rarely have the means to bring
forward a court case against a misleading company directory based in another
Member State, both in terms of costs and in terms of legal knowledge. Clearly
banning such practices in the whole EU, increasing penalties for infringements,
designating an enforcement authority in each Member State and having these
authorities cooperate cross-border will go a long way towards reducing
deceptive marketing techniques in the EU. The communication will however not
make a difference for SMEs unless it is followed up by a concrete legislative
proposal.
GRTU urges the Commission to
develop and enforce complementary measures to improve information and
dissemination; cooperation between administrative authorities, public-private
platforms and stakeholder representative organisations; and rapid reaction
mechanisms in order to put a stop to these practices and ensure damage
compensation, namely through the immediate creation of a European judicial system
for group action, which was announced over thirty years ago and then
successively delayed.
In view of the urgency to take
an immediate position on this issue and the estimated magnitude and seriousness
of these practices in economic terms at the European level, GRTU agrees that
the Commission should immediately present a specific legislative proposal on
this issue. We hope that the Commission will do so as soon as possible. It
already has all the evidence it needs about the benefits of EU-wide rules, so it
must act now as a matter of urgency.
The European Union has more influence on the world stage when
it speaks with a single voice in international affairs such as trade
negotiations. To help achieve this, and to raise the EU's international
profile, in 2009 the European Council acquired a permanent President and the
first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
was appointed.
(a) Setting up a european diplomatic
service
The common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and the
European security and defence policy (ESDP), define the EU's main foreign
policy tasks. These policies were introduced by the Treaties of Maastricht
(1992), Amsterdam (1997) and Nice (2001). They formed the EU's ‘second pillar'
– a policy area in which action is decided by intergovernmental agreement and
in which the Commission and the Parliament play only a minor role. Decisions in
this area are taken by consensus, although individual states can abstain.
Although the Treaty of Lisbon did away with ‘pillars' in the EU's structure, it
did not change the way in which security and defence matters are decided.
However, it changed the policy's name from ESDP to CSDP – the common security
and defence policy.
The aim of EU foreign policy is, essentially, to ensure
security, stability, democracy and respect for human rights – not only in its
immediate neighbourhood but also in other hot spots around the world, such as
in Africa, the Middle East and the Caucasus. Its main tool is ‘soft power',
which covers things like election observation missions, humanitarian aid and
development assistance. In 2009, the EU donated humanitarian aid worth €900
million to 30 countries, mostly in Africa. The EU provides 60% of the world's
development assistance and helps the world's most needy countries to fight
poverty, feed their people, avoid natural disasters, access drinking water and
fight disease. At the same time, the EU actively encourages these countries to
respect the rule of law and to open up their markets to international trade.
The Commission and the European Parliament are careful to ensure that the aid
is provided in an accountable manner and is properly managed and used.
Is the EU able and willing to go further than this ‘soft
power' diplomacy? That is the main challenge for the years ahead. All too
often, the European Council's joint statements and common positions on major
international issues (the Middle East peace process, Iraq, terrorism, relations
with Russia, Iran, Cuba, etc.) express nothing but the lowest common
denominator. Meanwhile, the large member states continue to play their own
individual diplomatic roles. Yet it is when the European Union speaks with one
voice that it is seen as a global player. If its credibility and influence are
to grow, the EU must combine its economic might and trading power with the
steady implementation of its common security and defence policy.
(b) tangible achievements of the
common security and defence policy (cSdP)
Since 2003, the European Union has had the capacity to carry
out crisis management operations, as the member states voluntarily make some of
their own forces available to the EU for performing such operations.
Responsibility for running the operations lies with a set of politico-military
bodies: the Political and Security Committee (PSC), the EU Military Committee
(EUMC), the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (Civcom) and
the European Union Military Staff (EUMS). This set of tools is what gives
substance to the common security and defence policy. It enables the EU to carry
out the tasks it has set itself – humanitarian and peacemaking or peacekeeping
missions. These missions must avoid duplicating what NATO is doing, and this is
guaranteed by the ‘Berlin plus' arrangements agreed between NATO and the EU.
They give the European Union access to NATO's logistical resources.
Since 2003, the European Union has launched 22 military
operations and civilian missions. These missions and operations, under the
European flag, are being or have been deployed on three continents.
As military technology becomes ever more sophisticated and
expensive, EU governments are finding it increasingly necessary to work
together on arms manufacture – especially now that they are striving to reduce
public spending to help them weather the financial crisis. Moreover, if their
armed forces are to carry out joint missions outside Europe, their systems must
be interoperable and their equipment sufficiently standardised. This is why the
Thessaloniki European Council in June 2003 decided to set up a European Defence
Agency (EDA) to help develop the EU's military capabilities.
For the first
time, millions of holiday-makers travelling in the EU this summer will be
protected by comprehensive passenger rights – whether travelling by air or
rail, and now also by ship, bus and coach. But research shows that two-thirds
of passengers are not aware of their rights. For this reason, the Commission is
launching a new campaign to inform the many people gearing up to travel this
summer about their passenger rights, and how to claim them if needed.
From 25 to 28
June, launch events will take place in Brussels, Athens-Piraeus and Sofia and
an air passenger rights information day will be held in Warsaw.
Launching the campaign
As part of a
new two-year campaign, eye-catching posters will hang in airports, ports, bus
and train stations across Europe, and leaflets and online information will be
available in all EU languages. This new campaign builds on the existing one,
and will focus particularly on raising awareness of the new maritime passenger
rights, and bus and coach passenger rights.
Why this new campaign?
59% of EU air travellers are unaware
of their rights while travelling, 34% are aware and 7% don't know about their
rights.
66% of EU citizens are not aware of
their contractual rights when purchasing a transport ticket, 34% are aware.
One in six
Europeans suffers from a disability. In addition, an ageing European population
means that there will be a continuously growing number of passengers who need
special assistance because of a disability or reduced mobility. One objective
of the passenger rights legislation is to allow disabled persons and persons
with reduced mobility to have the same possibilities to travel as other
citizens.
The EU is the
first area in the world with a comprehensive set of passenger rights for all
modes of transport (air, rail, waterborne, bus and coach). People need to know
more about the rights they now have under EU law.
How to find out your passenger rights?
A campaign website has been launched covering all transport modes. The
website is available in all of the EU's official languages.
Videos and posters on the campaign:
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/news/campaign_en.htm
For more information
see:
Lithuanian
Presidency of the Council of the European Union – A Credible, Growing and Open Europe – MEUSAC is organising a Public
Dialogue to present and discuss the programme and priorities of the Lithuanian
Presidency.
This event is being held in collaboration with the Embassy of the
Republic of Lithuania to Malta and the Parliamentary Secretariat for the EU
Presidency 2017 and EU Funds within the Ministry for European Affairs.
The programme and
priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency will be presented by His Excellency
Petras Zapolskas, Ambassador of Lithuania to Malta. The Hon. Dr. Ian Borg,
Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds will provide an
insight into Malta's reactions, perspectives and priorities for this semester.
Kindly confirm your
attendance by sending an email on , including name/s of
person/s attending, organisation/s being represented and a contact number. It
would be highly appreciated if your confirmation reaches MEUSAC offices by not
later than noon of Wednesday, July 10, 2013.
The Public Dialogue will be
held on
Date: Thursday, July 11,
2013
Time: 9.30 am
Location: The Aula Magna,
University of Malta,
Valletta Campus in St
Paul's Street, Valletta.
Registration starts at 9
am.
During the
Public Consultation with Hon Joe Mizzi, Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, the issue of
parking in Sliema was debated. GRTU's Deputy President Mr Philip Fenech
emphasised that whenever there is a change in traffic management one has to be
extremely careful not to distort the economic equilibrium.
He explained that
the linkages of the economy in a town centre are built up throughout the years
also through the synergies between businesses themselves. Most of shoppers in
Sliema don't go simply to buy from a particular outlet and leave they enjoy a
full shopping experience. They buy items, go around window shopping and they
stop for a coffee or a snack. Experience has shown GRTU that in other areas
where there have been drastic changes in traffic management the result was measured
loss of business. Hence its consultation is very important prior to any changes
being implemented.
During the
Public Consultation with Michael Farrugia, Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Simplification of
Administrative Processes, the parking commuting scheme was discussed. Philip Fenech explained that
many businesses paid thousands of Euros to the parking commuting scheme and so
far have not received any parking spaces in return for their clients. He
insisted that Government should use the large amount of money that has been
paid in building car parks in town centres to service these businesses.
Philip Fenech
also mentioned the excessive bureaucracy for cafeterias, bars and restaurants
to be able to place table and chairs in front of these establishment. He asked
for a more practical solution to this never ending issue. He also asked for
more practicality when it came to shops displaying on their façades and front
doors pots, plants, wearing apparel, etc… Mr Fenech explained at the same
time that he fully understood that pavements should not be blocked in any way
that hindered people with special needs from passing, use of pushchairs, etc…
On bureaucracy
Mr Fenech explained SMEs had little time for paperwork and should be left to
concentrate on running their business. He congratulated the Parliamentary
Secretary on the appointment of a Commissioner for the elimination of
bureaucracy. He asked the Parliamentary Secretary to meet GRTU on this issue at
his earliest to discuss the issue of bureaucracy for SMEs and the dossier GRTU
has prepared specifically on this topic.
Michael Farrugia said the question of
car parks in town centres was being looked at in further detail. He also agreed
that Malta being a Mediterranean climate needed to be more practical on
regulating table and chairs in open spaces and regarding overall bureaucracy.
He stated that Government was taking this seriously and that he would be
meeting GRTU to work together on bureaucracy affecting SMEs.
During an open consultation meeting with the Deputy Prime
Minister for European
Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto Hon Louis Grech
and Parliamentary Secretary for the Eu Presidency 2017 and EU Funds Hon Ian
Borg, GRTUs Deputy President Philip Fenech explained how urgent we require the
launch of schemes such as JEREMIE, Micro Guarantee, the Employment Aid
Programme and the Training Aid Framework.
Philip Fenech said that we are currently in a gap and many
employers are awaiting for these schemes to be launched as was promised in
order to make necessary investments, restructuring and employment. Mr Fenech
asked at what point was Malta in its preparation to launch the MicroGuarantee
and the next JERAMIE scheme and when was Government planning to launch the EAP,
TAF as was promised in the budget. GRTU has for months been waiting for such
schemes to be launched which have been delayed due to what appears to be
inexplicably lengthy negotiations for the Micro Guarantee and untimely
preparations, EU funding timelines and change in Government for the JERAMIE
scheme, the EAP and the TAF.
The Minister and Parliamentary Secretary replied saying that
they appreciated how important such instruments were for SMEs and Government is
working hard to reinstate the schemes mentioned. Government has applied for the
JERAMIE fund and it is currently in the processing of issuing tenders but it should
be in place by the end of next month.
The Micro Guarantee is still a priority and they are going to
put it in place in order to ensure the sustaining of new business generation that required
assistance through Government guarantees.
On the EAP and TAF they increased the workforce at ETC to cut down on the immense backlog the
schemes had and on which employers had been waiting for reimbursement of funds
even for years. The Parliamentary Secretary confirmed these will be part of the
next funding period and soon other schemes will come out that will put in 3.8M
for investment in training.
Other important items mentioned were that the Consultation
process will be improved through more transparency so that draft laws would be
made available for citizens to view. The appointment of a Commissioner against
bureaucracy and the importance the Government will be giving to the presidency
of the EU which will come at a very interesting and important time for both
Malta and the EU and will give is the opportunity to show how serious and
efficient we are.
