Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1041944
19 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 OCTOBER 2018 INTERVIEW Another way of describing this rhetoric is the 'scapegoating of foreigners' as the source of all our problems: echoing Delia's recent 'warning' about how Maltese schoolchildren might end up being taught by 'Pakistanis' and 'Bangladeshis'. Is this the new direction of the Nationalist Party? It is evident that you didn't fol- low all of Adrian Delia's speech in Rahal Gdid. What he said was that there has been a low- ering of conditions for Maltese workers; that government is attempting to lay its hands on teachers' conditions… and he gave an example comparing what happened with the buses, to what might one day happen in schools. When you say 'what happened with the buses'… do you mean that some of the drivers are foreign? Yes. Why is that such a bad thing? It is absolutely a bad practice. OK, we needed more drivers. This much is true. We couldn't find enough Maltese bus driv- ers to meet the demand. Also true. But we didn't ask the ques- tion, 'How much are we offering them per hour, and what kind of conditions do they need to work'? What the union is telling us is that there has been an ero- sion of their collective bargain- ing power, because you've got 180 Pakistanis, with no other expectation because the wages in their own country are so low… But isn't that also a case of directing hostility and ill- feeling towards Pakistanis – not to mention other minorities? This is not a question of ill- feeling. I would have absolutely no problem employing a Paki- stani myself. This is a question of safeguarding the bargaining power of the Maltese worker. We do need more workers in Malta; but why do we need to resort to foreign workers? Is it simply a question that there is no [local] availability? Or is it that we are not offering the right conditions? This is the main question to be asked. If the conditions are better and the pay is higher, would a Maltese apply for that job? Do you realise how right-wing that sounds? I am right-wing about this. I have no problems saying it. We have to ensure that our job mar- ket is functioning well also for the Maltese worker. It's all very good that we're offering work to foreigners… but if in Pakistan, you can live on 5 euros a day… and in Malta, you need 30 euros a day… then there's a shortfall of 25 euros a day. This is not xenophobia. This is a pragmatic issue… It could just as easily be argued that the PN is simply trying to ride the crest of a populist xenophobic sentiment that already exists. That is generally called 'populism', and it is a strategy associated with the far right… No, you are absolutely mistak- en. I can vouch for it. That is not the strategy of the PN. Our strat- egy is to be the mouthpiece, the flagbearers, the representatives of the people's concerns. And the people are concerned that the conditions of Maltese work- ers are going down, because of a loss of bargaining power due to the readily-available foreigner who is willing to work for much less pay and much worse condi- tions. How complicated is that? Then why not just demand an improvement to working conditions across the board, affecting Maltese and foreigners alike? Why drag 'the foreigner' into it at all? That is precisely what we are demanding. That the condi- tions of work improve for eve- ryone. But you're not being fair: as you well know, political narrative only works with ex- amples. You have to mention examples, if you're going to get your message across. And if we mentioned Pakistanis, it is not because they're from Pakistan. It's because Maltese companies are advertising jobs in Pakistan, offering wages that are higher than average for Pakistanis, but much lower than the Maltese average. This is why people are concerned about dwindling work conditions… Fair enough. Meanwhile, turning to your own campaign: you recently voiced concerns about Malta's agricultural sector. In what way has it been 'neglected', as you said earlier? When you speak to farmers, you realise that these people feel they have been abandoned. And they have been abandoned on multiple fronts: not just on one issue or another. Let's take just a few of them. When we joined the EU, we knew it would be a challenge to the farming sector. We knew that the liberalisa- tion of the market could nega- tively impact local produce. In the milk sector, for example, it would – and did – result in foreign dairy products sold lo- cally. But what happened? The Maltese consumer remained loyal to the local product; and local producers banded togeth- er, worked well, invested more than 40 million (85% of it in EU funding)… and they stood up to the competition. Unfortunately, however, we didn't do the same thing with fruit and vegetables. On the contrary, there is a total breakdown on the organisation side. Most of the farmers you talk to these days are seriously considering giving up altogeth- er; and this resignation stems partly from the fact that they're not finding any assistance at all from government, and partly because of the farmers' own failure to organise themselves better. In fact, by the time this interview comes out, there may well be an announcement of a new farmers' co-operative [Note: there was, on Friday]. This side of the equation may therefore solve itself. The other side, however, concerns EU funding. As part of the Com- mon Agricultural Policy, the EU makes a lot of funding available to strategic areas. What is hap- pening, however? We're not making good use of that fund- ing. We are tapping into it, yes; but in a very complicated way, which is very time-consuming for the farmer: who sometimes has to wait up to two years for a reply to his application. This is an area that can easily be improved, if it is given enough attention. But it isn't at the moment. Ultimately, though, this is not just about farmers. It's also about us: about the food we eat… and above all else, it's about food security. Is- sues such as the E-coli outbreak, that occurred when John Dalli was Commissioner for Health, can always happen again. To- day, about 80% of what we eat comes from abroad: a percent- age which increases each year. This is not on. That is also why we need to work together to safeguard the local agricultural sector. The conditions of Maltese workers are going down, because of a loss of bargaining power due to the readily- available foreigner who is willing to work for much less pay and much worse conditions common resolve PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES BIANCHI