Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1028264
16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 SEPTEMBER 2018 INTERVIEW Let me take you back 15 years when Malta voted to join the EU. The PN at the time had led the country to membership. One of the rallying calls of those opposed to membership was that foreigners would come and take Maltese jobs. Today, it appears the PN is fanning the fear of foreigners. What changed? I was one of those who voted in favour of EU membership because the PN always believed the Maltese were capable of taking charge of their own des- tiny. The party always believed in the Maltese and their ability not to depend on others and not fear the challenges ahead. This is why we achieved inde- pendence because we were ca- pable of telling the world, 'We are Maltese'. The same hap- pened with EU membership when we did not fear joining a much bigger market. The PN is not scaremongering. I am being critical of the government's lack of forward planning. I am criti- cising the government because in everything it does there is no thought or logic that indicates where it wants to go. If we are the smallest rock in Europe, the most populated, with the worst air quality, the highest level of traffic congestion and the steepest time of arrival between one destination and another, and I ask the question where will the 70,000 foreign workers expected over the coming four years live, the Prime Minister has no answer. I am not scare- mongering but asking. But you lead a political party that aspires to be in government. Everybody can ask questions but people expect solutions from you. Are you suggesting closing the door to foreigners? Absolutely not. I am asking the government not to contin- ue believing that it can develop the economy only by increasing population size. The economy can grow by producing more. We only have 40% of women who are in the labour market. We need to give more incen- tives to encourage more wom- en to go out and work. We have the opportunity to encourage our pensioners to offer a few more years of work without losing their full pension. The thousands we need are avail- able. We have to understand that 70,000 foreigners in a working population of 200,000 is a very strong percentage. I am not against foreigners, or against increasing the popula- tion size but if it is done in such a short timeframe it will have consequences. Increasing the female participation rate and encouraging more pensioners to work may not be enough. When you visited the Farsons brewery, Louis Farrugia told you that unless the company employed foreign workers it would not be able to keep up with production as a result of economic growth. The government has not yet said which sectors it wants to grow. The government has not yet decided on a clear direc- tion and vision for this coun- try. I don't want the economy to grow only through popula- tion growth. I want economic growth to come from sectors that provide value added as had been done by previous Nation- alist administrations. I want entrepreneurs to come here; di- rectors and executives. If these people employ 4,000 people, they do not need to stay here but can be working remotely. We can decide to have a tour- ism sector that attracts two million visitors, 2.3 million or more but the bigger it grows, the more it destroys that which tourists come here to see. Let us better the tourism sector, in- vest in it and improve the qual- ity not the quantity. Let us give this country a direction. The government is ignoring demo- graphic change. Government is only interested in doing things to win the next election, like it has always done. If we want to be serious about running the country, we have to plan over a 30-year span. The govern- ment said it wants a cosmopoli- tan Malta. Does this mean we will get more palaces of stone and concrete, and worsen- ing air quality? We are adding 1,000 new cars every month, which will rise to 60,000 by the next election and we have not invested in a public mass transport system. At a time of surplus, where is the capital in- vestment on projects that will serve this country for the next 30 years? We are not scare- mongering. The PN is inviting people to think. Employers today tell you the demand for labour is across all sectors and at all levels. Doesn't this policy of yours stifle economic growth? The labour demand is across the board. But can we first agree on the direction for this country? Is anybody asking how many people will be living in Malta in 20 years' time? If this country will have a popu- lation of 800,000, how many schools will we need? How many hospitals will we need? How many roads will we need? How many more supermarkets will the country need? How many more residential build- ings will we need? And will this construction take place in out- side development zones? Will we continue to disregard the already destroyed natural en- vironment? If 70,000 foreign- ers come here over four years, where will they sleep? Will we put them in underground garages, in gardens, on pave- ments, in farms? This is not scaremongering. Every EU citizen has a right to come and work here. I do not even consider these as foreigners. But my criticism is not based on the country of ori- gin, colour or creed of foreign- ers but on the government's lack of planning. Government has been caught in a vicious cy- cle of trying to sustain an econ- omy that is overheating. You say you are not racist and that Malta is obliged to save the lives of people at sea. But then you speak of migrants as if they are a problem. You also had an MEP candidate, Dione Borg, expressing discomfort at the fact that migrants are opening shops in Marsa and Hamrun. What message is the PN trying to send? I am absolutely not racist and the problem is the government, not the migrants. But there is a context. Europe spent hun- dreds of years exploiting Af- rica's resources and its people. Europe is now obliged to give Africa something back, by in- vesting and helping create sta- ble governments that encour- age Africans to prosper in their own countries without the need to escape. This will not happen overnight and Africans will continue escaping poverty, war and hardship. This is something everyone agrees with. The issue is what do you do with the people that are rescued once they are on land. Whenever the Maltese gov- ernment follows its interna- tional obligations, I will support it. There is also a humanitarian obligation towards these peo- ple. Malta can serve an impor- tant function to save people but there is also Europe's respon- One year after being elected leader of the Nationalist Party, ADRIAN DELIA has more questions than answers as he tries to find his party's raison d'etre. The following is an excerpt from an interview he gave Kurt Sansone I am absolutely not racist and the problem is the government, not the migrants. But there is a context Kurt Sansone ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt A leader with many