David Darmanin
In a strongly-worded address to the media, Azzjoni Nazzjonali (AN) leader Josie Muscat yesterday expressed fear at the prospect of third-country national integration in Maltese villages, arguing that multiculturalism poses a threat to the local traditions, culture and the labour market.
“Illegal immigrants are taking the jobs of the Maltese,” he said. “If we allow their families to come here too, the number of immigrants in Malta will multiply five or six-fold,” he said.
Muscat warned that we should heed the examples from other parts of Europe, where multiculturalism, in his view, has caused social division and unrest.
“We are now seeing the effects of immigrant settlement in other European countries, like the UK,” he said, “Christians cannot make the sign of the cross in public, because it is considered offensive to other religions. Neither can they place baby Jesus in the manger during Christmas, so they put a teddy bear instead.”
Supporting his own statement that “immigrants do not adapt in European countries”, Muscat said: “These people start looking for a ghettoed life – and establish their own schools, their own places for prayers and their own shops. In no time, you will find that they occupied entire districts of a city, and unless you’re one of them, you’d feel inadequate entering because it would feel like you’re in a different country.”
In response to questions by MaltaToday, Muscat said he disagreed with efforts made by the General Workers’ Union to integrate third country nationals in the Maltese workforce. In order to curb illegal employment of immigrants and allow a level-playing field to Maltese and foreign workers alike, the GWU is actively pushing for measures aimed at promoting multicultural diversity.
This would lead to the integration of third country nationals into the Maltese labour market, with the insistence of offering them same working conditions as the Maltese.
“No, I don’t agree with the GWU,” Muscat said. “If we are short of employees in certain sectors, let us issue an international call for applications and bring people to Malta for employment reasons. When our shortage problem is resolved, we must then make sure to give priority to the Maltese and tell foreigners to leave so that they can be replaced. What the GWU is suggesting would flood the labour market...”
At that point, MEP candidate for AN John Spiteri Gingell intervened: “You’re all missing a crucial point here. People entering Malta illegally are given the right to be employed – and this means that our country is promoting illegality.”
Reminded that once third country nationals apply for humanitarian status, their position in Malta becomes legal, Spiteri Gingell retorted: “Yes but they would have still entered the country illegally, which means that if Malta needs to employ people from abroad, they are effectively jumping the queue, and this is a gross injustice.”
Spiteri Gingell then launched a somewhat vague warning. “With the way things are going, we are seeing a vacuum created in society. We all know that, as has happened in the past, when a vacuum is created, it is filled with something else.”
Upon hearing Spiteri Gingell’s remark, a party spokesperson jumped in to clarify that what was being said was meant to be of “a preventive nature, because we would not want this to happen.”
On the integration issue, AN MEP candidate Malcolm Seychell added: “If the GWU aims to keep the strength of the Maltese workforce by promoting balance, it is then contradicting itself by wanting to flood it. Plainly put, how would you feel if the GWU brought 500 journalists to Malta?”
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