Letters to the editor – June 29, 2026

Maltese on the move

Mark Said of Msida writes:

According to the latest Eurobarometer poll on which countries people are most eager to leave, Danes are among the most settled Europeans. Only 2% of the Danes interviewed were thinking about leaving for political reasons as strong social protections and a high quality of life help keep migration intentions remarkably low, thus placing Denmark at the bottom of the list.

Malta, in contrast, comes second on the list, at 45%, immediately after Slovakia, at 50%.

Crowds gathered in Valletta to protest rampant over-development. File photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Almost half of Maltese residents would rather live abroad, citing both political dissatisfaction and limited housing options. With home ownership among the lowest in Europe, many feel squeezed between rising costs and a lack of political trust.

Unless this poll is completely flawed, which is unlikely, it belies the government’s frequent assertions that it’s only a small minority of Maltese who entertain any desire to move abroad and that we enjoy a high percentage of people who are homeowners.

Also, if the feelings expressed by this poll continue unabated, it will certainly make the government’s declared target of aiming for a better quality of life quite a Herculean task.

It will be a completely different type of Malta in motion, not the one originally intended by the transport ministry but one shaping the future of Maltese mobility, extending beyond national frontiers. Now that would surely be unsettling!

Wiser counsel

Albert Cilia-Vincenti of Attard writes:

As a citizen of this country, I find it disconcerting that our representatives have been openly taking sides in the long-standing Israeli-Arab conflicts over land ownership.

Apart from the latest spat between the Israeli ambassador and a former Maltese diplomat now senior UN official, we have had, for example, three of our senior politicians, Eddie Fenech Adami, Guido de Marco and Alfred Sant, posing together, a few decades ago, all three wearing the insignia of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). This happened when the PLO was regarded a terrorist organisation, having been responsible for assassinations of innocent civilians in Europe.

Israelis and certain Arab organisations claim the same land as theirs. Some other countries abstain from taking sides in this most difficult territorial issue and my own feeling would be that my little country ought to follow these wiser counsels.