Finance minister funds super bonus with tourist tax and foreign labor cuts
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Malta's Minister for Finance, Clyde Caruana, presented the 2027 Budget, detailing key fiscal and social measures. Highlights include a €1,000 'super bonus' for workers, an increase in the tourist ecotax, and revised benefits for third-country nationals. Pensioners will also gain the option to transfer National Insurance contributions to spouses without a pension.
The budget announcements have drawn immediate reactions and criticisms. The Prime Minister, Robert Abela, defended the new punitive measures for third-country nationals. However, Alex Borg, Leader of the Nationalist Party and Leader of the Opposition, criticized the budget for not addressing traffic, hospital waiting lists, power cuts, and for relying on population growth. Various organizations, including the TCN Alliance, the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA), and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA), also expressed strong disapproval, warning of negative impacts on foreign workers, the cultural sector, and tourism competitiveness.
In other legal news, Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was granted a 10-day extension to respond to the Attorney General's appeal against his acquittal in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case. Meanwhile, the Lassane Cisse murder trial entered its eighth day, with jurors being shown a police reconstruction.