Several Indian men responded to an advert inviting them to work in Malta. They borrowed money from family and friends to afford the exorbitant fees to secure the job and the required permits. It took whole families’ life savings to get them this opportunity to work in Europe. But the Maltese man behind those adverts was a fraud. His company owned three restaurants but he wasn’t interested in employing them and was only after their money.
That man has now been convicted of human trafficking and sentenced to two years’ jail. His restaurants are still operating. His lawyer, one of Malta’s top lawyers, secured special treatment for him in jail because of his medical problems. The proceeds of his crimes haven’t been confiscated.
Prime Minister Robert Abela was asked what happens now to the victims of that restaurant owner. Without a moment’s hesitation, Abela replied: “Workers who aren’t legitimate must leave the country.” Those persons, cheated of their families’ life savings, will be deported, Abela decided.
That’s not just downright nasty, it’s plain stupid. Abela, and the country, has a responsibility towards those persons cheated by our fellow citizen. They deserve some leniency – if not out of basic humanity, out of an egoistic interest to repair our country’s reputation.
Abela is playing the populist card. He failed to consider the impact of treating victims of human trafficking so cruelly. Malta is gaining a reputation as a country of fraudsters who cheat third-country nationals, charge them massive amounts of money to bring them to Malta only to abandon them or exploit them in slave conditions.
What Abela’s short-sightedness overlooks is that Malta depends on recruiting enough third-country nationals for its own survival. Our health service will collapse if third-country nationals were suddenly to up sticks and leave. Our care sector will implode. The same will happen in construction.
But Abela’s still reeling from the hiding he got at the last European election. He’s interested only in trying to stem the haemorrhage of Labour voters. That’s why he’s appealing to the nation’s basest sentiments.
Labour made industrial-scale importation of foreign cheap labour the cornerstone of its economic policy. As recently as 2019, Joseph Muscat, then prime minister, told the nation: “Our model is to open the doors – I agree with those who say open the doors to foreign workers.”
For years, Labour did just that. It opened the doors, without any plan, any control or any oversight. The number of third-country nationals in Malta exploded. In Gozo, foreign workers constituted less than three per cent of the workforce in 2013. By 2020, they accounted for over 20 per cent. In 2021, national insurance contributions from foreign workers reached €200 million – one-fourth of the total pension pot.
Muscat was pretty blunt: “Without foreign workers, we can’t pay for pensions, and we’ll have to increase the burden on taxpayers… if you want to enjoy your meat you have to take the bone too.”
Those tens of thousands of foreign workers were generating hundreds of millions of euros. A total of 100,000 workers generate over half a billion euros annually if they just spend €500 in rent and living expenses per month each.
Besides, Labour’s friends, who were importing workers with the help of Identità and Jobsplus, were making eye-watering sums of money. Ozo group, owned by the Zammit Tabonas, was being paid €10 million by direct order to provide workers to Wasteserv. Muscat’s own lawyer, Charlon Gouder, was signing documents to import hundreds of Nepali workers. Temping companies were making hundreds of millions just in fees from those foreign workers.
The economy was growing, NI contributions rocketed, Labour’s friends were prospering and funding for Labour reached unprecedented levels. Everybody was happy – or so it seemed in Labour’s world. The reality was very different.
Malta is gaining a reputation as a country of fraudsters who cheat third-country nationals- Kevin Cassar
Labour hadn’t calculated that tens of thousands of foreign workers on the little island needed somewhere to live, used the roads, consumed energy and produced waste and drainage. Their children needed schools and they needed the health service. Nobody was surprised when the power grid blew up and the roads were gridlocked. Waiting times, even for emergency care, reached dangerous levels. The cost of renting and buying property became completely unaffordable. Our bays were flooded with drainage overflows. Something had to give.
When the country finally sent Labour a stark warning that enough was enough at the European elections, Abela was stunned. He was rudely brought down to earth.
Abela panicked. He felt he had to do something to mitigate the disaster. He suddenly discovered the country had more than enough cab drivers and food couriers. Abela decided to stop issuing permits. There was no warning. Workers who spent thousands of euros travelling to Malta suddenly discovered they had no work permit. Labour told them: “Malta needs you.” When they got here, Abela told them: “Go back to your country.”
“Foreigners whose labour is no longer required must leave the country,” Abela announced. Labour had not only been issuing tens of thousands of third-country nationals with work permits, it was actively encouraging them to come. Now Abela’s changed his mind.
“This won’t affect those workers already here,” Abela declared. But workers already here needed to renew their permits. And their permit was unexpectedly revoked.
Abela just changed the country’s policy – on a whim. There was no warning, no advance notice, no transition period, no discussion with stakeholders, no consideration of the jolt to the economy. The Malta Chamber was incensed. It called for “increased dialogue with stakeholders”, “an equitable environment for all sectors of the economy” and for “all businesses (to) operate on a level playing field”.
Where was Abela all these years? How come he only just realised the market is saturated? Wasn’t his government issuing those permits and work visas? He knew exactly how many people he was letting in. He kept those doors “wide open”. He caused this disaster.
Abela’s latest precipitous U-turn, taken in a flash, without discussion, is symptomatic of his autocratic leadership. Abela resorts to knee-jerk reactions to try and save his skin, oblivious to the devastating harm he inflicts on his own country.
An impulsive panicking flip-flopper is not who we need to take the tough complex decisions for our country.
Kevin Cassar is a professor of surgery.