I recently made the difficult decision to offer my services to Malta and the Maltese people as a prospective representative in the European Parliament. What helped me come to this decision is the deep sense of gratitude I feel for the country that adopted me as its citizen as well as the great respect I have for the Maltese people, whose skills and excellent work ethic has enabled them to build a thriving economy – against all odds, I would hazard to say.

Against all odds because, unlike several other countries, Malta has no raw materials to rely on except its people and their skills. I arrived in Malta in the seventies, at about the time that the presence of the British Forces was being would down. The future was not looking very bright then: a self-sufficient economy needed to be constructed from scratch.

History shows, however, that Malta has managed to make itself a success story. This is an impressive achievement which took little more than four decades to achieve, and which has transformed our country forever. From practically nothing, we built a robust manufacturing industry that has managed to continuously reinvent itself, consistently climbing up the value chain as we went along. Similarly, tourism has grown impressively from very humble beginnings in the 1970s.This year we expect to host a record 1.5 million tourists, with a healthy balance of nationalities visiting in strong numbers through most of the year. Malta’s breakthroughs in other sectors, such as shipping and financial services, as well as other professional services such as law and accountancy, have been equally impressive. All this has given us a healthy spread of economic activity, as a result of which our economy is well diversified and able to absorb global shocks such as those that have rocked the world economy since 2008.We should speak about this more and with a greater sense of pride. 

But where do we go from here? Is our successful economic history the guarantee of a sustainable and prosperous future? Economic journeys do not end. In fact, experience has taught me that these are not journeys at all but races where countries must run faster and more skilfully every day, otherwise they will be left behind. Our achievements are not permanent and must be protected and often re-invented, otherwise we risk losing it all. 

Manufacturing is an industry I know well and here I feel that we can achieve more, especially in clustering small companies with the larger operators. Small companies will thus gain knowledge, experience, quality management and hands-on support that will help them enter the export sector. This process must, of course, be accompanied by continuous investment in skills and technology. Tourism must focus more on the improvement of the product. More value can be gained by exploiting the cultural aspect and other value-adding niches, such as medical tourism and yachting, where we have barely scratched the surface. 

Ultimately, we must learn to rely less on the advantages that we have exploited in the past, such as our climate in the case of tourism and fiscal benefits in the case of services. The maritime sector can benefit from an increase in the range of professional services on offer, and we can use our valid experience in this sector to develop the local aviation industry.

We need to plan our course well ahead especially because, as I mentioned before, our resources are extremely limited. There are challenges and threats on the horizon about which we must all be realistic and prepared to face. In their own ways, Europe and North Africa are both unstable. This can, of course, affect Malta and its future economic performance, especially if we allow youth unemployment and poverty to raise their heads locally, as they are doing abroad. Once again, I feel that a diversified economy is key to ensuring jobs, and to act as a safeguard against poverty.

I believe in the Maltese people and have full confidence in the country’s ability to manage the challenges ahead. I feel I have contributed towards Malta’s economic success in the various roles I have held throughout my career and I now look forward to representing my adopted country in order to preserve the high level of economic well being that we have managed to secure, together.

Helga Ellul is a Nationalist Party candidate for the European Parliament Elections