Prime Minister Robert Abela on Friday said Nationalist Party was being “populist and sensationalist” when it called for the deportation of foreign nationals involved in violent crimes.

Instead, he said, the government wants to increase police presence in problem hotspots and regenerate long-abandoned neighbourhoods. 

“I won’t be sensationalist or populist like they [the Nationalist Party] did. It may earn you some cheers in the short term but it shows a lack of political maturity and is not a real and effective solution,” Abela said.  

He was speaking during a radio interview on the Labour Party’s ONE radio and weighed in on the Nationalist Party’s calls for foreigners caught breaking the law to be deported immediately.

The proposal is part of a series of measures put forward by the PN and came just days after a massive 25-man brawl in Ħamrun last week.  

Days later Opposition leader Bernard Grech criticised people who pit Maltese against foreigners when discussing public order issues.

“My experience has taught me not to make populist statements as they come back to haunt you,” Abela said.    

No immigration cap

Abela said his administration had no intention of limiting or capping the number of foreign nationals living in Malta.  

“If we were to put a cap, it would mean we would not continue growing the economy. Taking that decision means sliding back, and will have negative repercussions on people’s quality of life,” the labour leader said.    

That said, Abela believes the government’s function is to ensure that law enforcement authorities and other “front liners” have the necessary resources to address these realities.  

“But I will not make the fundamental mistake of making this an issue of us versus them,” he said.  

Abela said that just as a video of foreign nationals fighting in Ħamrun had gone viral, he had been sent a video of Maltese people fighting in neighbouring Marsa. 

“I can't promise there won’t be another fight in Malta. That won’t be realistic. But the government will work with the authorities, with local councils, and other stakeholders on the issue of law and order,” he said. 

He said the government is working to address the challenge of a changing society, describing it as one of the most complex issues facing the country today. 

The number of people working in the country has increased drastically and these numbers are necessary to ensure further improvement in people’s quality of life, Abela said.

Early hours policing and regeneration projects 

Abela said the government is working on a reform of law enforcement for the early hours of the morning around nightlife hubs.  

Meanwhile, it also planned to regenerate long-abandoned areas like Marsa.  

Describing it as one of the areas with the most potential, Abela said the government wanted to invest in a new promenade for the inner harbour town. 

Also on the subject of foreign nationals in Malta, Abela said that during the last Nationalist administration, migrants had been allowed to arrive in Malta in droves. 

Labour, on the other hand, had clamped down on abuse of refugee status and work permit overstays, while working with Libyan authorities to minimise the number of illegal arrivals in Malta.   

Abela's unannounced visit without the press 

At the start of the interview, Abela spoke about a visit he made to the Valletta Cruise Port.

The visit was one of a number that the media was not invited to in recent days and no official department of information statements were issued.

Instead, Abela shared images of the visits on his personal social media platforms.  

The string of visits comes straight on the back of a Times of Malta report quoting government sources complaining that Abela had been largely absent from the island for most of August.  

Abela said that in a few months the number of tourist arrivals through the cruise port had tripled compared to during the COVID pandemic, with some 500,000 more tourists compared to the same period last year.