Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1285850
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 SEPTEMBER 2020 OPINION The pandemic could be Malta's moment: we need to take stock now 'THIS is Europe's moment' were the words EU Commission Pres- ident Ursula von der Leyen used as the Commission's plan for a Recovery Fund was present- ed during the European Parlia- ment's May plenary session. The Next Generation EU re- covery plan aims to address the damage caused by the pandemic and invest in a green, digital, so- cial and more resilient EU. The funds are aimed at reaching the EU's objectives of climate neu- trality and digital transformation and to offer social and employ- ment support. But this could also be Malta's moment. The global pandemic has un- doubtedly slowed down the world as we know it. Many of us stopped commuting to work, social activities stalled and econ- omies around the world face un- precedented challenges. Malta is no exception to this. Meanwhile, just as significant- ly, we are facing another unfor- tunate reality, with ramifications that are equally devastating. In view of the current health emer- gency, it is all too easy to forget that the European Parliament of- ficially declared a climate emer- gency in November 2018, and we have since been living in an official state of emergency where climate change is concerned. Before the pandemic, set in our old ways as we were, immediate and long-term solutions were not always our priority. COV- ID-19 sent shockwaves to our "traditional" way of doing things. This should be our opportunity to rethink methods of resistance, resilience, profitability and sus- tainability, in order to foolproof our future economies. The way to get there is to make sustainability a key factor in our business models. Sustainability can no longer be a fancy word that leads nowhere but we need to pull our socks up and be in- novative to introduce positive change. Small and medium sized enterprises make up the majori- ty of Maltese businesses. One of the immediate economic con- sequences of COVID-19 is the sudden lack of liquidity, making banks less willing to lend mon- ey, due to increases in perceived risk. We need to ensure that we have the right responses and measures to help tackle the fi- nancial blow and support small and medium-sized enterprises. Since such businesses are the backbone of our local econo- my, we need to make sure their vulnerability is lessened in ways that can also benefit the envi- ronment. Why spend money on office space, when the space available online is so vast? Why spend time and resources trav- elling, when employee time can be used on actual tasks that need doing? Why build unsustainably, when space is one of our islands' most limited resources? Why not heavily encourage invest- ment in local agriculture, when food sovereignty is so vital to the local economy? These times of pandemic have forced us to come up with smart solutions. We might have been abruptly forced to put them to use, but we have managed to come up with methods that work. COVID-19 has made us realize that Malta already has some of the tools it needs for sustainable living. Digitization, for example, is not a new concept to our local economy. Indeed, we pride our- Miriam Dalli We need to stop depending on foreign imports for the provision of food that can be produced locally, for the sake of our farmers, our nutrition, our biodiversity, our food affordability and for the sake of all those operating in the food chain