PL delivered a strong economy and not one that pushes the country into excessive deficit, unlike previous administrations.
Malta did go back under the EU Excessive Deficit Procedure in July 2024 — opened against this Labour government — so the claim that 'PL didn't push the country into excessive deficit' isn't literally true. But Malta has materially outperformed its corrective targets: 2024 deficit came in at 3.7% versus a budgeted 4.5%, debt-to-GDP fell to 47.4%, and Brussels' 2025 update confirmed Malta is on track to exit EDP two years ahead of schedule (2026 vs target 2027). Mixed opinion — partly wrong on the literal EDP point, partly right on outperformance.
Malta did go back under the EU Excessive Deficit Procedure in July 2024 — opened against this Labour government — so the claim that 'PL didn't push the country into excessive deficit' isn't literally true. But Malta has materially outperformed its corrective targets: 2024 deficit came in at 3.7% versus a budgeted 4.5%, debt-to-GDP fell to 47.4%, and Brussels' 2025 update confirmed Malta is on track to exit EDP two years ahead of schedule (2026 vs target 2027). Mixed opinion — partly wrong on the literal EDP point, partly right on outperformance.
We tested AAS's claim against (1) the European Council EDP decisions for Malta 2004-2024, (2) Eurostat general government deficit / debt series (gov_10dd_edpt1), (3) Maltese Ministry for Finance medium-term fiscal projections, and (4) European Commission EDP corrective-trajectory documentation.
Mixed opinion. PN was under EU EDPs in 2004-2007, 2009-2012 and inherited 2013 — so the 'PN ran excessive deficits' part is anchored in real Council decisions. But the Council also opened a fresh EDP against Malta in July 2024 over the 2023 deficit of 4.9%. So the literal contrast 'we delivered, they didn't' isn't accurate — Malta is currently under EDP. What rescues part of AAS's claim: Malta has materially outperformed the corrective trajectory. 2024 deficit landed at 3.7% (vs 4.5% budgeted); debt-to-GDP fell to 47.4% (vs 55.3% projected); the Finance Ministry projects 2025 at 3.3% and below 3% by 2026 — exiting EDP two years ahead of the Council's 2027 deadline. So the spirit of the claim — 'PL has run a strong, fiscally sound economy' — survives the EDP technicality but the literal 'didn't push into EDP' contrast does not. Limitations: 'mixed opinion' is the appropriate verdict because the two halves of the claim point in different directions: literally wrong on the EDP/no-EDP contrast, substantially right on the strong-economy / faster-than-required-recovery point.
Did Labour really deliver a strong economy instead of an excessive deficit
Alex Agius Saliba's framing was rhetorically clean: 'we delivered a strong economy, not one stuck in excessive deficit like the previous lot did to us'. The original Maltese, for the record: "Wellidna ekonomija li trendi u mhux waħda illi titfa' lill-pajjiż f'defiċit eċċessiv kif kienu wikkewna biha dawk ta' qabilna."
It's a sharp line. But the EU's actual fiscal record on Malta is more complicated than the binary it implies — and the part that rescues AAS isn't where you'd expect.
The EDP scoreboard, 2004 to today
The European Council has opened an Excessive Deficit Procedure against Malta four separate times since EU accession. Three of those four are on PN's watch:
- 2004–2007 — opened almost immediately after accession; closed when deficit dropped below 3%.
- 2009–2012 — opened in July 2009 amid the global financial crisis. Required ~0.59% of GDP in spending cuts to comply.
- 2013–2015 — opened in June 2013, four months into Labour's first term, against the inherited 2012 deficit; closed mid-2015.
- 2024–present — opened on 26 July 2024 against the 2023 deficit of 4.9%. Still active. Council deadline to close: 2027.
So the historical scoreboard isn't 'PN deficit, PL surplus'. It's 'PN three EDPs, PL inherited one EDP and is currently in another'. AAS's binary doesn't survive the timeline.
Malta's deficit / surplus trajectory under PL (2013 onwards)
What the binary does get right is that for a long stretch in the middle of Labour's run, Malta was running surpluses, not deficits.
Under Labour, Malta was in surplus four years running (2016 to 2019), peaked at +3.4% of GDP in 2017 — the highest in the EU that year — and was on a stable trajectory until COVID hit.
The post-2020 picture is different. The 9.4% deficit in 2020 is explained by the COVID emergency. The 5.5% in 2022 and 4.9% in 2023 are increasingly explained by the energy-subsidy programme — Malta chose to absorb the global energy shock at the public balance sheet rather than pass it through to households (which is its own fact-checked claim).
Where the claim's spirit survives: Malta is beating its EDP targets
This is the bit AAS could legitimately have led with. Even in the current EDP, Malta is materially outperforming the corrective trajectory the European Council recommended:
- 2024 deficit landed at 3.7% of GDP — versus the 4.5% the government had budgeted at the start of the year. An 0.8 percentage-point overperformance in a single year.
- Debt-to-GDP fell to 47.4% — versus 55.3% projected. A 7.9pp improvement, putting Malta well below the 60% Maastricht ceiling.
- The Council's January 2025 recommendation set net-expenditure growth ceilings of 6.0% for 2025 and 5.8% for 2026/2027. Malta's outturn is comfortably inside those limits.
- Finance Ministry projection: deficit narrows to 3.3% in 2025 and below 3% in 2026 — meaning Malta exits EDP in 2026, two years ahead of the Council's 2027 deadline.
If you were asking 'is Malta running its public finances responsibly under the current Labour administration?' — the EDP technicality is real, but the corrective track record is genuinely strong.
And on the 'strong economy' half — that's well-supported
Real GDP growth averaged ~5% per year from 2014 to 2019. After the COVID dip, growth resumed: 5.0% in 2024, the fastest in the EU that year. Employment rose from 66.8% (2013) to 83.6% (2025) — moving Malta from below the EU average to the EU's #1 spot. Per-capita GDP closed in on the EU average and pulled ahead.
Aggregate measures back the 'we delivered a strong economy' part of AAS's claim cleanly.
So what's the verdict?
Two halves, two different scores.
- 'PL delivered a strong economy' — supported. GDP, employment, tax revenue, household income all rose materially.
- 'Not one in excessive deficit, unlike the previous administration' — this part is wrong by literal reading. Malta is in EDP today, opened against this Labour government in July 2024.
- What rescues the rhetoric: Malta is exiting that EDP early, beating every target Brussels set in January 2025, and is on track to drop below the 3% ceiling in 2026.
Verdict: Mixed opinion. The 'strong economy' framing is genuine; the 'we never ran an excessive deficit' framing isn't, but Malta's corrective trajectory is.