Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1253597
I stopped at a kiosk in Rabat just off Mdina to buy some ice- cream. On such a Friday the gardens in Rabat would be nor- mally humming with children running and playing. There was none of this. Behind the kiosk counter, the muffled voice of the quite possibly Asian server behind their face mask told me the price. In what was once a setting where a Maltese speaker would have manned the tiny kiosk, I wondered how many low-end and minimum wage jobs were still being taken up by willing migrant workers. And whether Maltese workers with reduced hours and salaries under the strain of COVID-19 had started to feel the pinch, perhaps even forced to return to jobs they had until recently refused to take up. Even at a traditional ti- totla bar right up the road from where I was, the men serving the pastizzi were Asians, again symbolising the transition of certain types of labour that had been taken up by new residents and workers. In the empty restaurants, owners took the decision to hang on to their staff, most of them also foreign. Waiters serve their customers with vi- sors from a safe distance yet continue offering menus with the same exorbitant prices that we had back in February 2020. Nothing gratifying in eating out at a restaurant in these surreal conditions, especially when we are paying the same prices. But the reality of how most foreign workers have been re- tained by employers on the ba- sis of their competitive labour rates, flexible working hours and also, arguably, a more ro- bust work ethic, is a state of fact that appears to have gone under-analysed in the wake of the pandemic. And such it will remain, at least until the tourism industry faces up to the fact that it can no longer take for granted the annual batch of 2 million tour- ists, who will certainly not visit us this year, and who are likely to stay away in 2021 as well. It is this cataclysmic impact that will create such a tsu- nami and send shockwaves everywhere. There will be un- employment and struggling businesses. Those who have deep pockets may continue to operate, but the vast majori- ty will be hit hard. So the very fact that restaurants, for exam- ple, continue to present their clients with the same inflated prices pre-COVID, is a clear indication that many are still in denial. And beyond the cater- ing world, the same should be said about the banking sector and fees they have been charg- ing. Their moratoria on loans to businesses will not impinge on their profitability – if an- ything, it will help the banks to redesign repayment pro- grammes, retain interest rates after COVID-19 and increment repayment periods. Other financially motivated groups have taken advantage of the supply and demand chain and repackaged their pric- ing structure. Such is the free market – ruthless, driven by self-interest, and in many ways intrinsically corrupt. In the midst of all this we still see that one major hurdle in revitalising our airline and redirecting state aid where it is needed, are the pilots union led by Dominic Azzopardi, a former Labour party candidate and a property developer. He remains steadfastly against a compromise in the light of the complete eradication of tourist arrivals and continues to insist that Air Malta pilots should have an early retirement scheme of some €750,000. They also have a side letter signed by Konrad Mizzi that guarantees them a job with the government should they lose their current job! Obviously, Azzopardi does not represent the average pilot, who does not have a side busi- ness. If he does not understand the issue, the government will fold Air Malta as a company and start afresh. At this junc- ture, the need to have a na- tional airline that can rekindle tourism without being priced out by more competitive air- lines should be a priority. It is this kind of example that underlines the lack of appreci- ation of how dire the situation will become for Malta and the whole world. In the private sector, big and small compa- nies have been imposing salary cuts, reducing part-timers and trying to trim costs. Diligent shareholders have also with- held their demands for a share in last year's profits. In the meantime those in government employ continue to receive full benefits even though some can never be as productive as when they were physically at work. On this, the pilots are right – they cannot be the only ones who experience cuts and sac- rifices. Either we are in this together, or not. If things turn sour as they will, Robert Abe- la's government will have to take measures which are un- popular but necessary. Saving the livelihood of the most vulnerable and the vast middle class is a must. Failure to do this will translate into a world of haves and have-nots. And one cannot forget the ef- fects of the forthcoming Mon- eyval report. The focus will be on financial services and whether the reforms in gov- ernance will be used to either buttress this industry and safe- guard jobs; or whether it will be used to disarm Malta of its competitive edge in a Euro- pean economy where profits seemed to be sucked by the centre, by the powerhouses of major exporters. I don't think Malta is the on- ly culprit when it comes to tax competition. The Netherlands is a haven for tax avoidance schemes. Surely enough, the Dutch government's keen in- terest in Malta's governance record is not matched by its own housekeeping when it comes to taxation. So even though we must always be crit- ical of Malta's international role in tax avoidance, we must understand whether compet- ing industries want to dent an industry which ultimately is also a major employer of Mal- tese and foreign workers here. At some point, we must ques- tion the motivations of foreign players too. Is Robert Abela taking this matter seriously enough? We certainly need stronger regu- lators – if anything, stronger regulation will take away crit- ical eyes from the financial services industry. That means bolstering the resources of the FIAU, the MFSA, the economic crimes unit and the forthcom- ing financial crimes agency, the state prosecutor, and also the judiciary. We know the biggest problem we face when it comes to financial crime is the reluc- tance or inability to prosecute complex crimes: it is now a ma- jor stumbling block. And the new commissioner of police has to get his act to- gether and start prosecutions on economic crime. If our fi- nancial and gaming sectors are eradicated and transferred out to other EU countries, our economy will be put on a ven- tilator and left to die. And die it will. And when that happens, none of the eagle-eyed observers from the European Parliament, and the Council of Europe's human rights defenders will be taking a stand in our name. None of them are hitting out at the European surplus econ- omies sucking up the currency from the rest of Europe now, anyway. This is a time to appreciate how serious the situation is. We need to come together and work harder – unfortunately, for less money. 5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 31 MAY 2020 OPINION Saviour Balzan @saviourbalzan Still not seeing the light