There seems to be a misunderstanding about the value added which foreign workers in our society could bring to the economy. The fact that such activity exists seems to be taken in itself as an indication of how strong the economy has become. But the right questions to address are: What positions are foreign workers taking up? What kind of economic inputs do they provide?
In the history of these islands, there almost always were many foreigners who lived and worked here. At the times of the Knights of St John for instance, we had the knights themselves as well as their followers (not to mention the slaves). In the main all these were involved in the provision of “military” services but their inputs also had an economic dimension. The same can be said for when Malta was a British colony.
The crucial test is not simply the number of foreign workers with jobs at a time when unemployment has reached historically very low levels.
The test must cover whether foreign workers are carrying out tasks that the Maltese themselves do not know how to do, or do not want to do. Would the Maltese economy be hit if such tasks were not being carried out? Is it work that foreigners can do much better than Maltese workers and more cheaply?
All these questions need to tie in with a final one: What would happen if suddenly all foreign workers left?
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Macron's family
How the French political system will be positioning itself for the European Parliament elections of May 2019 raises curious implications. In France, with a very significant margin, the biggest political party now is La Republique en marche: Forward the Republic, LRM, led by President Macron. As a party it has up to now, no formal representation in the European Parliament and is affiliated to no political “family”.
As the French President has already taken a leading role in a movement that is pressing for European “reform” even if this is still hesitant, ambiguity has become the name of the game. Is Macron going to join an existing political grouping? – and the Liberals are mentioned in this respect. Up to now at home, where a “liberal” current does not exist, he has preferred to follow his own path.
There is speculation that he intends to lay out his way also in Europe. He has actually insisted on the holding of popular “conventions” right across the EU to discuss its future – a tactic which he employed during the French presidential campaign.
It is doubtful whether in the short time that is now available, he will be able to make it.
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Ashes
The “season” of Lent commences with a celebration of ashes (though this year, it was immediately followed by a deferred celebration of Carnival). Even so, it is unclear whether in our minds, ashes still symbolize the future state of bodies post death.
More than anything else, they provoke images of environmental problems – like with the pollution caused by factories and cars, as they spew out the exhaust of burnt oil and pollute the atmosphere; or images of the smoke that bellows out of active volcanoes and disrupts air traffic.
Ashes could recover their old symbolic role should we move to a total change from burial to the burning of cadavers. It has been a very long time that this matter is under discussion, so that even though the Catholic Church is no longer adverse to the procedure, there has been little to no progress.