Momentum has issued its official reaction to Budget 2026, noting several positive initiatives while highlighting significant shortcomings, particularly in social justice and environmental policy. Treasurer Carmel Asciak described the new seven-day bereavement fund for the loss of a child as “a positive and compassionate measure that can help ease the immense pain couples face during such a tragedy.” Momentum also welcomed the increase in grants for new births and adoptions, as well as the “circa €100 a month rise for Gozitan students studying in Malta.”
However, the group criticised the €4.66 Cost of Living Adjustment as “certainly not sufficient to make up for rising food and medicine prices.” Asciak further stressed that “larger families are not only a financial decision,” pointing to the mental health pressures caused by both parents working long hours.
Momentum welcomed progress on pension fairness and youth contributions but condemned the lack of reform for other pre-1962 pensioners, who “have again been left with zero euros.” The statement also urged the government to introduce remote work and flexi-hours and to act decisively on public transport and traffic reform.
Momentum concluded by warning that economic progress “is fundamentally undermined if it comes at the cost of irreversible environmental degradation.”
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