I’ve been thinking about this title for some time, but I wasn’t sure how best to approach the subject. This post may make uncomfortable reading, but I feel compelled to express my opinion on the controversy surrounding Malta’s Budget 2027.
Most third-country nationals (TCNs) do not expect everything to be free of charge; they simply want to be treated fairly. Yet the Maltese Government is shamelessly scapegoating them to conceal the failures of its own economic model—a model that depends on a continuous inflow of foreign workers to expand domestic consumption, fill labour shortages and compensate for a shrinking local workforce.
The very Government that chose this unsustainable model is now shifting responsibility for its social consequences onto the workers on whom it relies. This is not only unjust; it also damages Malta’s international reputation.
The new measures affecting TCNs amount to systemic exploitation. Worse still, the Government has fuelled hostility towards foreign workers when it should be promoting integration. “Go back to your country” is not a magic formula for resolving the problems created by an economy dependent on foreign labour. Nor will nostalgia for the “good old days” bring back a society or an economy that no longer exists.
The Prime Minister has suggested that employers should help cover the costs of services used by TCNs. That raises a legitimate question: how should those costs be shared fairly between the state, employers and workers? Simply targeting TCNs with additional charges does not answer that question. Instead, it risks treating them as the cause of problems rooted in the Government’s own policy choices.
The Finance Minister’s claim that “non-quality tourists” must make way for “quality tourists” is as arrogant as it is absurd. Before sneering at the visitors who spend their money in Malta, he should ask whether his own Government has delivered the quality it so readily demands of them.
The Government should not look to the piratical legacy of the Knights Hospitaller for inspiration. TCNs are neither disposable labour nor a convenient source of revenue to fund the so-called “super bonus”. A national budget should serve the public interest, not be used to buy popularity. They are human beings. Asking for fair and decent treatment is not the same as expecting everything for free.
To TCNs who have not yet obtained long-term resident status: if you have a realistic opportunity to build a better life elsewhere, consider it. I know that relocating is far from easy, but you deserve better than to be valued for your labour while being treated as a burden.
If the Government wants someone to blame for its economic model, it should look in the mirror.