Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1307485
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS PUBLIC CONSULTATION on the 2020 regula ons on lightweight plas c carrier bags and single-use plas c products Environment & Resources Authority Hexagon House, Spencer Hill, Marsa. Have your say on on the 2020 Regula ons regarding: • restric ons on placing on the market of lightweight plas c carrier bags; and • restric ons on placing on the market of single-use plas c products. Comments made will be considered in the finalisa on of the legal no ces and may be sent by not later than Thursday 26th November 2020 on era.policy@era.org.mt More informa on may be found at era.org.mt by using the QR code indicated below. Disclaimer: Representa ons shall be registered and made public on ERA's website, together with details of the person making the submission unless anonymity is requested in wri ng by the person submi ng his/ her representa on, in which case only the content of the representa on shall be made publicly available. 40K 35K 30K 25K 20K 15K 10K 5K 0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Asylum seekers arriving by boat Migration Asylum seekers, migrant workers from EU Tracing concern over "immigration" from 10K 5K 0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 In ation Immigration Environment Energy Housing Crime Economy Unemployment Pensions Education Government debt Health 0 10 20 30 40 40 29 21 18 12 11 10 9 7 4 0 0 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Spring '08 Autumn '08 Spring 09 Autumn 09 Spring 10 Autumn '10 Spring '11 Autumn '11 Spring '12 Autumn '12 Spring '13 Autumn '13 Spring '14 Autumn 29% 40% 21% 48% 41% 28% 49% 40% 31% 34% 41% 32% 24% 34% 42% 28% 16% 48% 32% 30% 31% 42% 27% 12% 41% 45% 20% 25% 42% 32% 26% 20% 39% 33% 24% 29% 24% 28% 24% 63% 19% 19% Immigration In ation Environment Energy Housing Crime Tracing concern over "immigration" from The green bar is the concern was not the top concern Tracing concern over "immigration" from 2008 THE Eurobarometer regularly asks the Maltese to list their top two national concerns. In the latest survey conduct- ed in July 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, 58% of Maltese listed migration as their top worry, compared to just 25% for health. But does concern on migra- tion reflect fluctuations in boat arrivals? Since the election of a Labour government in 2013, immigra- tion has topped the list of Mal- tese national concerns in all 15 Eurobarometer surveys bar one. The only exception was a survey in November 2017, which saw crime emerge as the topmost concern in the wake of the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. This contrasts with pre-2013 concerns, when immigration only topped the list twice in ten surveys held between 2008 and 2012, eclipsed by concerns on electricity tariffs, inflation and the economic situation follow- ing the financial and economic crisis of 2009. This may be an indication that immigration filled a void after the newly-elected Labour government reduced energy bills and the economy started on its unprecedented growth path. While concern on immi- gration between 2008 and 2012 coincided with fluctuations in the number in boat arrivals, this has not been the case after 2013. Indeed, the period after 2013 is marked by a heightened in- crease in legal labour migra- tion from the EU and non-EU countries, as the table shows. This form of migration far out- stripped 'illegal' arrivals of asy- lum seekers, whose entry sys- tem to Malta is handicapped by the circumstances of emergen- cy it takes place in. Concern over immigration under a Nationalist govern- ment between 2008 and 2012 generally coincided with fluc- tuations in the number of boat arrivals. A dramatic increase in arrivals in 2008 pushed im- migration to the top of the list, but fell to fourth and fifth place in 2010 after arrivals fell to 47, following a pushback agree- ment between the Italian Silvio Berlusconi government and the But does concern on migration ref lect f luctuations in boat arrivals? JAMES DEBONO and NICOLE MEILAK find that this is not always the case In good times and bad, migration is Malta's top worry since 2013