After government raised the drinking age from 16 to 17, a Legal Notice published in the last few days has also raised the age at which people can enter places of entertainment from 16 to 17 years.

The government had raised the drinking age in order to come in line with other EU countries, where the drinking age is even higher – 18 or, in some cases, 21.

The main aim of this change is to avoid binge drinking by students, especially since Malta is becoming known as the place where young people can do what they are not allowed to do in their own countries – drink.

But as the law stood until last week, young people could still enter places of entertainment even though, theoretically, they could not drink. This was causing problems for bartenders and others employed in the entertainment business, as they had to differentiate between those who could just enter and those who could drink.

However, the GRTU’s Philip Fenech told this paper, organisers can still hold non-alcoholic events in places of entertainment. These events have to be licensed, all drinks on-site have to be removed and there must be police supervision during these one-off events.