Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1541680
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 NOVEMBER 2025 ANALYSIS From 'scary' numbers to scary politics: Adrian Delia's recycled "scary" numbers based on statistics showing a majority of foreigners in six out asks how should politicians tackle one of Malta's top public concerns without feeding xenophobia A MaltaToday survey in October placed concern over population growth, along with that of foreign workers, as the most pressing issue (31%), just ahead of traffic and well ahead of inflation. But despite at- tempts by the Nationalist Party to milk this concern, another Malta- Today survey published last week showed that four in 10, trust neither party on this issue, with the PN being slightly less trusted than Labour on this sensitive matter. For PN strategists, this raises a ma- jor dilemma: Should they walk further into the minefield by upping their tone at the risk of sounding xenopho- bic, while scaring off those who—for different reasons, including economic ones—actually benefit from the pres- ence of foreigners? Delia's calculated push Adrian Delia's speech—coming in the wake of a failed bid to get re-elect- ed as PN leader—suggests that he wants to lift the brakes and turn this concern into a personal battle-cry. One also suspects that Delia is run- ning one step ahead of his party on an issue which gives him visibility. Yet, he can do this because the party, in its entirety, toys with the issue without ever going all the way. Politicians often hide their true in- tentions by referring to "numbers" instead of people. Delia has rebutted accusations of racism by saying the problem is not the people themselves, against whom he has no ill feelings, but the sheer numbers which have in- creased sharply over the past decade. But he is intelligent enough to know what kind of feelings drive some of those applauding him. What the figures conceal Even so, Delia isn't wrong about the numbers. The increase in the number of non-EU workers has been sharp in the past decade. But the NSO sta- tistics cited by Delia divide the pop- ulation into Maltese citizens and non-Maltese citizens. The latter cate- gory includes both EU citizens—who enjoy the same freedom of movement as Maltese people moving elsewhere in the EU—and third-country nation- als, whose labour not only contributes to economic growth but also sustains vital services such as healthcare. The six localities mentioned by De- lia include Sliema and St Paul's Bay, where thousands of non-Maltese citizens hailing from the EU and the United Kingdom live. These include high earners working in the gaming industry. Moreover, even people from South- East Asia do not form a single catego- ry; while some have replaced Maltese workers in elementary jobs, others are filling skill shortages in high-tech industries. These statistics conceal a complex reality: Temporary workers who keep essential sectors running; others who are exploited in sweatshop condi- tions; some who have put down roots in Malta after falling in love with the islands, their landscapes, and their people. But neither is Delia mistaken on public sentiment, even if surveys should not be read at face value. Peo- ple can have mixed and even schizo- phrenic feelings on this issue. Some may worry about the numbers, but for very different reasons. Concerns can be about infrastructural and housing pressures, while others may simply be irked by the presence of working-class people from South-East Asia or East- ern Europe. And while many see this as a prob- lem, they may also fear that in their absence the economy would take a hit. It is not exceptional to find peo- ple who lament the presence of for- eigners while milking and exploiting them. Still, while exploitation is a re- ality, employers also hire foreigners because of skills shortages. In short, it is irresponsible to lump foreigners (and their employers) in- to one generic category and use their sheer presence as an electoral slogan. This is simply because there is no easy solution for a phenomenon happen- ing all over Europe, with countries facing the same demographic prob- lems. Labour's responsibilities Sure, the Labour government is partly to blame for various reasons. First of all, for nearly a decade it al- lowed a free-for-all for temping agen- cies to recruit people from the glob- al south, and has only now come up with a labour-migration policy. It has also failed to ensure that public infra- structure, including public transport, is up to the challenge of a bigger pop- ulation. Moreover, Abela himself pressed the narrative that Malta is "full up" for asylum seekers, and his government has also uprooted long-established communities of people who entered Malta irregularly but have been liv- ing here for 10, 15 and even 20 years. These communities have been used in a nauseating balancing act to appease