There is a surge in cars sporting foreign number plates on our roads – and it’s not because of Ferragosto.

This increase has been noticeable for the past months. Cars from Bulgaria, from Italy seem to dominate apart from cars from the UK, but in this case most of them may be owned by Maltese brought in from the second hand markets in the UK.

They do not cause any ripples, maybe because the colour of their skin is not dark. Nor do they come on boats.

Many come because they are citizens of the European Union and thus enjoy the right of free movement.

We see many openings of Italian, or Sicilian, restaurants. And, as we announced in last week’s issue, there are many Italian traders who are relocating to Malta because of oppressive Italian tax regimes and practices.

Of course, to these, one must add the many employees of online gaming companies, financial services and the like that have relocated to Malta, attracted by our climate as much as our fiscal climate.

These are all beneficial arrivals since the spin-offs including accommodation, flights, restaurants and the like are all positive.

It may however be that at least some of the arrivals come from countries with a worse economic situation, countries of high unemployment. And these people come to grab at any jobs going. Many end up waiting in restaurants and bars or getting employment in hotels and the tourism sector. Although they have the right to establish their residency here, they could be competing with Maltese residents for these low-lying jobs where no or little qualifications are needed or asked for.

So far, in this country of almost full employment, this influx has not attracted adverse comment. One must distinguish here between jobs that most Maltese seem to hate doing, such as cleaning the streets or in the construction sector, and jobs such as waitering and bar-keeping that Maltese have traditionally loved to do.

There do not seem to be any grounds under which the government may seek to stem the tide but as, and in an even greater measure, in the case of asylum seekers, there could be scenarios when people living in countries with financial or economic problems flock to this small smiling island in the middle of the sea where all seem to have an admirable lifestyle and somehow make a living.

European legislation, and our commitment to the Acquis Communitaire, do not seem to provide for any measures with which to stem the inflow when it becomes problematic.

So far, the tide has gone mostly unnoticed but when jobs usually on offer go missing or when more people end up without a job, people will start noticing this hidden yet consistent influx and problems will begin. This is how, in other countries, xenophobia and extremist parties were born and grew. In their cases, we are speaking of big countries such as Italy, France or the UK, when the immigrants came from non-EU countries, these big countries proved at the end to be quite unable to stem the tide.  How can small Malta hope to do so when this category of migrants come from other EU countries and when these new arrivals, like the asylum seekers, undercut the Maltese workers by offering to work for cheaper wages?

If we look around us, we can see the unraveling of the European ideal. Although the European countries soldier on trying to repair the breaches, trying to plug the gaps, trying to repair the damage caused by greedy banks and unruly countries, and although the European dream remains as noble as the day it was created, the time calls for clear-eyed policy makers who are not afraid to call a spade a spade.

To fall for the trick of confusing slogans for policies, as many around us are doing, and to keep attacking each other instead of working together in the national interest, is the worst thing we can do.