European elections often serve as a kind of testing ground for seasoned administrations. For voters, when no government is at stake, a protest vote that shakes parties out of complacency seems to be as rational as any other choice.

But, in 2024, the Maltese political season is being marked by a dangerous discourse on foreign workers. It is clear that opportunistic voices want to conflate the problems of Malta’s economic growth with the conspicuousness of non-EU nationals.

Population growth, driven by economic success and its demand for labour, have, naturally, impacted upon the island’s public infrastructure and services. But this decade of job growth is only being seen from its sharp edges: in real economic terms, we have experienced larger tax revenues that filled up our pension pot and guaranteed social security during COVID and beyond as well as subsidised a €340 million energy and fuel bill.

And the upward mobility of Maltese workers has brought about the need for more workers to fill underserved occupations, at both low and high levels: nurses and carers, for example, to take care of our ageing population; the men and women who clean our streets, drive our buses or serve us at the supermarket tills; as well as skilled workers in the wider service industry.

But the 2024 MEP elections bring us political forces that are keen to capitalise on xenophobic sentiments. They exploit the gap between the reality of the essential jobs this country needs and the labour influx that plugs this demand.

As the island’s largest union, we are calling on mainstream parties not to engage in a discourse that dishonestly attacks workers – be they foreign or Maltese – as a cynical plank on which to base their European political campaign.

This is why the General Workers’ Union joins the European Trade Union Confederation in calling on working people, students and pensioners to vote for a fairer and social Europe in 2024.

Certainly, in Malta, we can toast important achievements for workers – greater collective bargaining, stronger social dialogue, fairer recruitment laws and policies, price stability measures, measures against precarious labour and minimum wage growth.

But the challenges to social justice remain. Workers still face the threat of erosion of real wages in the face of record profits, of the EU’s austerity rules that hamstring governments into spending less and cut down on social services, as well as of mainstream parties that employ ‘sound bites’ from the far-right in at attempt at winning votes.

The 2024 MEP elections bring us political forces that are keen to capitalise on xenophobic sentiments- Josef Bugeja

So, what are Maltese voters really deciding on this year? My invitation to you is to choose a social Europe first: one that guarantees better jobs and incomes, social protection and measures that counter the cost-of-living crisis.

For it is with strong European representatives in Brussels, at the European Parliament and in the European Commission that the values of social dialogue and democracy at work can be upheld and for Europe to have a strong voice globally.

This is not a vision that only stops at the workplace. Europe should mean the best occupational health and safety legislation that can achieve zero deaths at work or caused by work; Europe should mean the full enforcement of workers and trade union rights; the rejection of austerity by aligning the Stability and Growth Pact with the rights in the European Pillar of Social Rights; Europe should mean combatting tax evasion and avoidance and ensure excessive profits are taxed; a strong industrial base and high-quality public services and housing; Europe should be about a just digital transition that safeguards workers and their families, regulates AI and achieves climate targets.

In a recent address to MEPs in January, upon assuming the EU Council presidency, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo warned that the prospect of an ‘America first’ president – to be elected in November 2024 – could once again mean that Europe might have to go it alone.

Whatever form this transatlantic alliance might yet take, I think it is up to us – as European voters – to equip the EU with MEPs and political forces that will give it a strong voice that upholds a better quality of life, excellent public services and equality for all.

For fairness and social justice are no mere slogans. In Malta, they have been the building blocks of social cohesion and industrial peace, with unions as their driving force.

To sacrifice this at the altar of political convenience by giving in to the opportunistic discourse about ‘foreigners’ would be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Josef Bugeja is secretary general of the General Workers’ Union.