Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1337056
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 FEBRUARY 2021 10 NEWS ROBERT Abela might not be as good an orator as his prede- cessor, but he certainly has un- derstood Malltese society and its deeply-rooted sentiments of national pride and aspiration for unity. Last Sunday he invited the Opposition to join 'Team Mal- ta' by defending the revamped programme to sell passports to the global elite – this time with more stringent residency obli- gations – now the subject of an infringement procedure by the European Commission. Forget the irony in calling for national unity when defending the very scheme that defies the tradition notion of national identity (indeed, it is simply an instrumental view of the for- eigner as a source of income). Despite the reputational dam- age caused by the crudeness of the IIP, the programme has proved its worth during the pandemic, helping the coun- try mitigate the economic downturn with a fat kitty that financed the increased expend- iture on healthcare and bene- fits. So who really forms part of Team Malta? In itself the IIP raises ques- tions on who forms part of team Malta. By creating two classes of migrants – one, the global rich who pay to fast-track their way to a Maltese passport, the other migrant workers who pay taxes and national insur- ance, are active members of the community yet are treated like disposable guests – the scheme raises questions about the composition of "team Malta." For Malta is now a country in which one-fourth of social se- curity contributions are paid by foreigners, the majority of which can only be naturalised after more than a decade. Abela's appeal also sug- gests that critics of the IIP are 'against Malta', a notion that sows more division than unity. And it's an approach that puts the opposition in a quanda- ry. That's because local elites cringe at Malta offering fast- track citizenship to rich Arabs and Eastern Europeans, but then this sentiment is weaker than the utilitarian national- ism of a government defending a source of national income. And the Opposition is unable or unwilling to criticise the class distinctions created by the scheme in a context where most foreigners living here have no right to vote and are therefore excluded from 'Team Malta'. Once again, Abela also makes the same appeal for unity on "immigration", even though it is not exactly clear what such agreement with him entails. For while there is a vast na- tional consensus that the EU has not been fair with Malta by refusing to share the burden of asylum seekers rescued at sea, the national consensus Abela propose hints at supporting a bellicose foreign policy to skirt around Malta's humanitarian obligations. So by pushing the opposition to support him on an issue Ab- ela proposes as popular 'com- mon sense', the Prime Minister emboldens bigots who sim- ply want our ports to remain closed in the f a c e of human tragedy. And with an election loom- ing, the risk is that Abela may be more tempted to use strong-arm tactics as summer approaches. Still, Abela himself has so far never presented a clear blue- print on which the national consensus on immigration can be based. In the past months he just kept repeating his in- ane "Malta is full-up" mantra, an admission which simply ex- acerbates popular antagonism towards immigrants but offers little in terms of concrete ac- tions. In short Abela is simply using immigration as political foot- ball, helped in the process by a misguided court case by Re- pubblika aimed at him and the Robert Abela's Team Malta: Which side are you on? Robert Abela's 'Team Malta' rallying cry taps into a deeply-rooted nationalism that appeals to his party's core vote. But its bipartisan pitch also appeals to M.O.R. voters. The question is: who is entitled to form part of the team, and on whose side does the team play? The Opposition is unable or unwilling to criticise the class distinctions created by the scheme in a context where most foreigners living here have no right to vote and are therefore excluded from 'Team Malta' JAMES DEBONO