Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1224129
PHOTO BY JAMES BIANCHI 8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 MARCH 2020 INTERVIEW While the current emphasis re- mains on containing the spread of COVID-19, we must also con- tend with an inevitable econom- ic crisis. How serious (and long) do you envisage this crisis to be, and how severely do you expect it to impact Malta? In effect, we are already living the initial shock of the crisis. Due to the fact that social distancing is the primary mitigation tool for the spread of this virus, we are already feeling the socio-eco- nomic implications arising out of the radically altered behavioral patterns of locals, and the abrupt halt of the inflow of tourists. It's hard to foresee the duration of the crisis: this will be largely influenced by the pace of the sus- tained transmission of the virus, and how our health services will react to care for those that need hospitalisation. Moreover, once the health crisis starts subsiding, the country will need to shift its focus to start picking up the piec- es that this will leave behind it. I am a firm believer that – if we act diligently and with sufficient foresight - the crisis which we shall go through will be tempo- rary, both from health and eco- nomic perspectives. Having said that, the coming 10-12 weeks will be very hard in economic terms; and after that, the major challenge will invariably be the market psychology, and how people will adjust to the post-cri- sis climate. This is why we have been stress- ing from day one that, as a coun- try, we need to do our utmost to ensure that our businesses do not fail over the coming weeks. As evidenced by the reactions of the constituted bodies, the weak re- sponse of government has placed thousands of jobs in jeopardy. We cannot allow our local en- terprises to fail, as we would be failing our society at large. It is unthinkable that after years of boasting of being the best in Europe, with record-breaking economic growth and the "best of times", at the first hurdle our economy falters, large-scale lay- offs are made and families are made to pass through the worst of times. Some of these effects are al- ready being felt. Foreign work- ers have been told their permits will not be renewed (and at the time of writing, they were be- ing threatened with deporta- tion). The PN has long argued that Malta relies on too much imported labour. Do you think the present scenario vindicates your party's past position? At the first roadblock in its eco- nomic game-plan, this week the government unceremoniously told foreign workers in Malta that, since we're in a crisis, they might as well pack up and leave. Now this needs to be framed in- to a context: up to a few months ago we were being told that this country couldn't survive with- out a sustained influx of foreign labour. We were being told that tens of thousands of workers were needed to retain our "best of times", with numbers set to reach 70,000. When we used to point out the massive flaws in this public policy, and how it was eroding the liveability of a highly densely populated country, we were told that we had no idea of how the cosmopolitan vision works. We were also told that we should thank heavens for the for- eign workforce as they would be paying for our pensions. Today we realise how flawed, myopic and harmful this ap- proach was. The Labour govern- ment fuelled the economy with an unsustainable overdrive in the attraction and importation of foreign workers. Now let me set the record straight. The PN has, is and will always be a political party which embraces the vigour of a mul- ti-cultural workforce, particular- ly in those sectors in which the foreign workforce can raise the bar in terms of skills set, value added and wages. However, we are steadfast against the cynical utilisation of foreign workforce to inflate economic figures and to keep the labour costs of en- try-level jobs at ridiculously low levels through labour arbitrage. Thanks to Labour's policies, Maltese workers were driven out of entry-level jobs because there were foreign workers willing to undercut the real value of that job and take it on at below par. The government's solution was to crowd out these workers from the private sector and put them on a state payroll, bloating it to yet another unsustainable de- gree for which we shall need to pay through our noses for gener- ations yet to come. So, do we feel vindicated? Not really. We feel sad for the future of this nation, and for the price our children will have to pay for these gross mistakes which have eroded the fabric of our society. Opposition leader Adrian Delia has been calling for a total lock- down. PM Robert Abela replied that the economic effects of a lockdown would be more harm- ful than the virus itself. The health authorities agree with him, but others (including MAM) do not. Where do you stand on this issue? First of all, the position of the Leader of the Opposition is a position of the Nationalist Par- ty, adopted and endorsed by the whole Parliamentary Group, hence also my position. Secondly, one has to under- stand the process leading to our position. At the onset of the cri- sis, we set up an internal dedicat- ed task force to focus exclusively on this issue and work towards proposals not mere criticism. We discussed with public health experts, healthcare professionals, economists and planners to map out the policy options and our proposed solutions. At each step of the way, we announced the measures we were recommend- ing and explained the rationale. Thirdly, one has to define what lockdown is. Central to our po- sition was the immediate closure of flights, allowing only for repa- triation of Maltese to return to Malta. Up to this week we were witnessing the baffling scenes of tourists coming to Malta, only to learn from their hotel that they The economic effects of the coronavirus emergency have already started being felt. Opposition spokesperson for the economy CLAUDIO GRECH argues that the severity of the impending crisis depends on actions taken by government today We cannot allow businesses Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt