The headlines of last Sunday’s local newspapers brought out in the most clear manner the need for a sustainable economic model for Malta − our current one has run its course. What triggered my thinking was Mario Xuereb’s interview with the outgoing director general of the Malta Employers’ Association, Joe Farrugia, in the Sunday Times of Malta.

Then three headlines on timesofmalta.com and two on Malta Today’s portal completed the picture and proved Farrugia right.

Starting with the last one I read, Malta’s population has now reached 563,000. This happened as a result of 42,000 people, most of whom are non-EU citizens, moving to Malta and 21,000 moving out of the country. This figure is already unsustainable, and we have to accept the fact we cannot take any more people. Research also show that overpopulation is one of the major problems this country is facing.

Moreover, the fact that 21,000 moved out of Malta is in itself an indication that such a high level of immigration is short-sighted, counter-productive and damaging to our society and economy.

There are those who claim we can only afford our pensions and free healthcare system thanks to the presence of such non-EU citizens and the taxes they pay. Their claim is that we can only sustain our economic growth if the population keeps growing. However, facts are proving them wrong.

This week, food couriers went on strike to protest against their working conditions. They claimed they are working 16-hour days and earning €3 an hour.

Although non-EU citizens working in other sectors earn more than €3 an hour, their wages are not high and barely go over the threshold where they start to pay tax. As such their contribution to the Maltese coffers is, at best, minimal and they certainly cannot be said to be sustaining our welfare system.

A sustainable economic model would also sustain our welfare, healthcare and education systems

One other fact is the report about the emergency department at Mater Dei Hospital. The news is that “hospital emergency is crippled as patients are left waiting for hours”. Patients who went to the emergency department at Mater Dei Hospital were left waiting for more than 12 hours to be seen to, and the government is seeking the support of the private sector to ease the pressure.

It is a known fact that this excessive waiting time at Mater Dei is caused by the number of non-EU citizens who seek medical care at Mater Dei, and Maltese taxpayers have to fork the bill. This is yet another proof that our current model of relying on large numbers of foreign labour being paid low wages is not sustainable.

This lack of sustainability is further proven by the fact that a number of bays, which usually attract significant numbers of Maltese and tourists, are not fit for swimming. The latest one I read about is St George’s Bay in Birżebbuġa. This same bay was closed for more than a week in June. This was caused by a failure in our infrastructure, which is not capable to handle such a large population.

The last news item was the call by residents and activists for a review of local plans by the Planning Authority. Here we have the typical case of not managing our future which a planning authority is entrusted to do. Residents and activists are asking for planning laws to be revised to prioritise the needs of residents (as in fact should be the case) and reflect today’s realities and tomorrow’s expected scenario (as should be the case). Local plans written about 20 years ago are no longer relevant, thereby making our economic model unsustainable.

In his interview to the Times of Malta, the outgoing director general of the Malta Employers’ Association said we need to destroy jobs. This does not mean shrinking the economy, or lowering our standard of living, or people earning less. What it means is that we need to be serious about cutting jobs which have no real economic value. We need to be serious about developing new economic activities which move our economy up the value chain.

This means prioritising the common good over the selfish interests of a few business people. A sustainable economic model would also sustain our welfare, healthcare and education systems. Our current economic model is only putting a strain on these systems.