EPP general secretary and Simon Busuttil’s successor joins the pack of lies

Last week the Nationalist Party organised what it referred to as a national convention to shape Malta’s future. At the end of this convention, rather than shaping its proposed future policies under now Opposition Leader Alex Borg, the PN went back to its negative talk. 

This was emphasised through a confrontational speech by Dolors Montserrat, General Secretary of the EPP, of which the PN is a member. Montserrat, former PN leader Simon Busuttil’s successor among others, said: “Spain and Malta still suffer from the burden of a Socialist (Government) that does not Govern but merely survives. The two Labour parties, left parties, Socialist parties, here in Malta and in Spain, that have become factories of poverty and precariousness”.

How correct is this statement by Montserrat?  The Journal.mt carried out an analysis of the main poverty, income, and employment indicators to fact-check the PN’s foreign guest’s statement. The following table compares key socio-economic indicators for Spain, Malta, and the EU Average in 2013 and 2025

Socio-Economic Comparison (2013 vs. 2025)

What does this comparison show?  The economic landscape for Spain and Malta in this last decade or so has shifted significantly.  Since the post-financial crisis era of 2013, while Spain has seen a historic recovery in employment, Malta has transformed into one of the EU’s high-income leaders with an unprecented economic boom and historic low unemployment.

The trajectory from 2013 to 2025 reveals a striking divergence between the Mediterranean peers. In 2013, Spain was the “sick person” of the Eurozone, grappling with a staggering 26.1% unemployment rate and a collapse in domestic demand. By 2025, while Spain has seen a significant recovery, nearly doubling its female employment rate and slashing unemployment, it remains burdened by a high AROPE rate (26.1%) and a tax burden that has surged to 42.3%, now exceeding the EU average.

Malta, conversely, has undergone a socio-economic metamorphosis. In 2013, its GDP per capita was significantly below Spain’s and far lower than the EU average; today, it is roughly 20% higher than Spain’s, and significantly outpacing the EU average. This growth was fuelled by a radical shift in the labour market, particularly for women. Malta’s female employment rate jumped from a dismal 48.9% (the lowest in the EU in 2013) to over 73% in 2025 (among the highest in the EU), largely due to free childcare, innovative ‘making work pay’ policies which reduced by two-thirds the number of social assistance beneficaries and a booming gaming and services sector.

Interestingly, while the EU average shows a steady trend toward social consolidation, Spain’s severe material deprivation has actually risen since 2013 (from 6.2% to 8.5%), signalling that its growth has not reached the most vulnerable. Malta, meanwhile, used its pre-COVID fiscal surplus and its post-COVID swift economic recovery and enhanced revenue to increase social protection expenditure by 95% (88% in nominal terms), lowering its AROPE rate by 5pp and effectively cutting its severe deprivation rate by more than half, outpacing its EU peers.

While Malta’s Equivalised Disposable Income (EDI) in 2013 was significantly lower than Spain’s and the EU average, by 2025 it significantly surpassed Spain’s EDI while it is now at par with the EU average.  The data further suggests that while Spain is working harder to fund its social model through higher taxes, Malta’s rapid growth has allowed it to expand its social safety net while maintaining a relatively low tax-to-GDP ratio (tax burden).

So was Montserrat correct in her statement, especially concerning Malta?  Absolutely not! What she confirmed is merely that the PN event was yet again an exercise in negativity and lies.