Robert Abela has accused the Opposition of using the language of the far-right in its attempt to frighten Maltese people about foreigners.
“Its own newspaper now speaks of an ‘indigenous population’,” Abela told parliament on Wednesday.
“It’s shameful, dangerous, racial language that you hear from the far-right.”
The prime minister was referring to an editorial in the PN-owned In-Nazzjon, which flagged Malta's low fertility rate and "minimal rate of growth in the indigenous population" were contributing to labour market pressures, adding that the number of Maltese and Gozitans grew by less than 100 last year.
Abela said the Opposition leader spoke with a forked tongue about migration, saying that it was wrong to discriminate by nationality when it suited him but then resorting to populist tropes intended to drive a wedge between Maltese and foreigners.
Grech criticised the government when it blocked boats carrying irregular migrants to Malta during the COVID-19 pandemic, Abela said, but now argued that Malta was “full up” of legal migrants.
The prime minister’s speech came immediately after one by Opposition Leader Bernard Grech which focused on Malta’s explosive population growth.
"We see that the government had no clear economic plan for our country, the only plan was to bring more foreign workers in," Grech argued, adding that a woman had told him she was too frightened to board a bus because it was full of foreigners.
Temping agency regulation
During his speech, the prime minister noted that legislation to regulate temping agencies and curb abuse in the recruitment of foreign workers was around the corner, and also cited plans to limit the number of people who could live in the same shared accommodation.
“Get in line with regulations,” he told temping agencies. “. Change the way you operate or you will find closed doors, and no amount of pressure will move us.”
He emphasised Malta’s strong economic performance, citing European Commission GDP forecasts and a recent credit rating agency report which praised Malta’s “wealthy and diversified” economy.
Plans to increase green urban areas
The prime minister also pledged to allocate more government land in urban areas to be turned into public open spaces.
Although he was light on details, Abela said that the parcels of state-owned land would collectively amount to tens of thousands of square metres.
Those land parcels are within the development zone and “worth millions” but the intention is to instead use them for greening projects, he said. The Environment Ministry is currently working with the Economy Ministry, which is responsible for the Lands Authority, to finalise a list of such plots.
Abela’s government made urban greening a central theme of its 2022 electoral campaign.
A paperless public sector
The prime minister also cited work to reduce the public sector’s reliance on physical paperwork, saying a call for tender to introduce the IT systems necessary to introduce those paperless processes would soon be issued.
Once that tender is adjudicated, state-run IT agency MITA will install the system and start by rolling it out at the Office of the Prime Minister, as part of a €20 million project.