Abela hails pursuit of luxuries as proof of Malta’s success - EUROPE SAYS
Read inMalti. ATimes of Malta interviewwith Robert Abela released on Sunday saw the prime minister measure Malta’s success in the growing number of visible luxuries – not least boats – and insist that the. . .
Read inMalti. ATimes of Malta interviewwith Robert Abela released on Sunday saw the prime minister measure Malta’s success in the growing number of visible luxuries – not least boats – and insist that the country must accept that the pursuit of such luxuries comes at a cost to society. The interview is the first Abela gave to an independent media outlet since last month’s election, in the wake of an electoral campaign which saw Abela and the Labour Party he leads emphasise the need to improve Malta’s wellbeing, and to prioritise it over the GDP. But as journalist Mark Laurence Zammit pressed Abela on Malta’s growing pains, including a growing population, increased construction, fast-growing tourist numbers and worsening traffic, the prime minister gave little indication that this wellbeing logic was being pursued: the Times’ transcript has no mention of wellbeing at all. A growing population – primarily the result of Malta’s growing reliance on migrant workers on low wages – will keep growing, though Abela took comfort in statistics indicating that population growth is slowing: the population grew by “only” around 14,000 people last year. At that rate, Zammit highlighted, Malta would have a population of 650,000 by the next election. Malta can take that much, Abela insisted, as long as Malta sticks to its target of 4% economic growth. Growth has been more rapid in tourism: Malta first surpassed the 3 million tourist mark in 2024, and surpassed the 4 million mark last year. Abela said that the country can sustain around 4 million, though that number may well be easily surpassed this year: if the growth witnessed in the first few months of the year is sustained, the total number may well exceed 4. 5 million. The prime minister argued that those who invested in tourist accommodation deserved to have their investment pan out, dismissing the journalist’s arguments that Malta was “forced” to flood Malta with tourists to do so. He also sought to dismiss concerns on numbers by emphasising that tourism is less concentrated around the summer months than it would have been. That may well be the case, but tourist numbers in summer are still increasing dramatically, while the winter months see tourist numbers only seen during summer around a little more than a decade ago. Abela’s mention of boats – he is himself the owner of a luxury motor yacht – came as he was asked about traffic and rejected any idea of disincentivising the use of cars. “The reality is that people have money in their pockets. You can see this from the number of new boats that have been purchased. It’s massive. The greatness of the Labour government is that many things that were previously considered luxuries have now become affordable to many people,” he said. But he conceded that there were trade-offs as a result of this pursuit of wealth. “If you want a new car and a boat, you must accept they bring new realities with them,” he said. New realities which would, presumably, also be borne by those who do not have either.