“Pleasures yet to come”

When Robert Abela looked across Parliament and told Adrian Delia that “the pleasures are yet to come,” the line might have sounded confident to his benches, but to the rest of the country, it echoed hollow. The Prime Minister’s remark, made in reference to the hospitals saga, felt detached from the lived experience of Maltese families. After years of inquiries, court rulings, and unfulfilled promises, the people are still waiting, waiting for hospitals that were meant to heal but instead became monuments to waste and betrayal.

The Budget 2026, wrapped in applause and self-congratulation, once again promises that better days are ahead. But after more than a decade of “next year” budgets, people are weary of waiting. There are good measures, no one denies that. Bonuses for families, aid for pensioners, and incentives for businesses have their place. Yet, this is not what Malta needs most. People don’t want a few more coins in their pockets; they want a country that works, where hospitals function properly, roads flow smoothly, and families can enjoy more time together.

People don’t want a few more coins in their pockets; they want a country that works, one where the roads aren’t jammed, hospitals aren’t overflowing, and where time with family isn’t a luxury.

Even Caritas Malta, usually measured in its tone, said it clearly: the Budget may sound social, but it doesn’t touch the heart of the problem. The Justice and Peace Commission noted that while immediate relief is welcome, the government still refuses to confront Malta’s deep structural fatigue, low wages, unaffordable housing, and the erosion of community life. The Malta Chamber of Commerce and other organisations echoed the same warning: Malta’s economic model is stuck. Growth is driven by numbers, not value; by population, not productivity.

Robert Abela’s phrase about “pleasures yet to come” might just as well describe the way government treats the country’s future, as something always postponed. Nowhere is this clearer than in the hospitals debacle, where accountability is still pending and delivery remains an illusion. Families do not need to be told to wait for pleasure; they need functioning healthcare and trust restored in public institutions.

Meanwhile, the demographic reality grows heavier. Malta’s population has exploded in recent years, straining schools, infrastructure, and healthcare. What was once a national advantage, our smallness and social cohesion, is now eroded by overdevelopment and overdependence on imported labour. The Budget 2026 ignored this elephant in the room. Instead of addressing demographic sustainability, it celebrated GDP figures that mask the fatigue beneath the surface. This is not sustainable growth; it is demographic exhaustion.

The Partit Nazzjonalista, under Alex Borg, offers a different path - one grounded in fairness, opportunity, and quality of life. Our vision, “Naħdmu biex ngħixu, mhux ngħixu biex naħdmu,” places dignity and balance at the centre of national policy. It means removing tax on cost-of-living increases, reducing income tax across the board, exempting the first €10,000 from part-time and overtime work, launching a four-day work-week pilot, creating a Child Trust Fund for every newborn, and investing in new high-value sectors such as MedTech, cybersecurity, and green innovation.

A government that truly serves its people does not promise pleasure tomorrow; it delivers peace of mind today. Malta deserves not pleasures yet to come, but justice long overdue. Malta deserves a government that restores trust, rewards hard work, and believes that the best days of our nation are not yet behind us, but ahead.

This article was published on the Times of Malta on 11/11/2025.