Although the Opposition party (PN) has managed to persuade the party in government (PL) to hold parliamentary debates about Libya just before Parliament’s summer recess, and shed a tear or two for the Maltese workers in Libya, this turned out to be just idle talk and crocodile tears.

Lest the PN tries to hide behind the mask of hypocrisy, they should be reminded that Maltese workers in Libya did not fare well under the Gonzi-PN regime. In the thick of the Libyan civil war, some Maltese citizens who were in desert locations working in the oilfield industry requested the Maltese embassy in Tripoli to provide them with an Emergency Travel Document to be sent to them via e-mail because their passports were being processed at the Libyan Immigration Office in Tripoli. However, the Maltese Embassy persisted in demanding that Maltese citizens had to collect such travel documents personally from the embassy in Tripoli. As everybody knows, it would have been suicidal for anyone to venture by road (air space over Libya was closed at that time) from desert locations to Tripoli when internecine conflict was taking place along the way. Eventually, it was the Libyan authorities who allowed expatriates to travel out of Libya with a copy of their passports rather than the actual documents and this is how several Maltese managed to leave – no thanks to the Maltese embassy in Libya. And when the Maltese embassy was asked whether any evacuation means were being arranged to evacuate Maltese workers out of Libya, the response was for workers to persuade employers to engage the services of Virtù Ferries which was also being used for this purpose by other third parties (USA, etc.) at a considerably high cost. Ultimately, Maltese workers managed to get out of the strife of civil war in Libya through other countries’ generosity including help from the Libyans, not by the assistance provided our parliamentary representatives.

Total disrespect towards the Maltese workers in Libya by the Gonzi-PN regime, also took place some months before the civil war in Libya, when the Gonzi-PN decided to change the double taxation agreement between Malta and Libya and turn it into the opposite to that it was originally intended – its purpose was for Maltese workers in Libya to avoid paying income tax both in Libya and in Malta.  This agreement had originally been set up by the Labour government led by Dom Mintoff (God bless his soul), also reinforced/recognized by the subsequent Labour government led by Dr Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, and also by the PN government led by Dr Eddie Fenech Adami. But the Gonzi-PN regime who had virtually bankrupted our country, made undisclosed high increases to his Ministers and paid high salaries to his cronies (consultants, ambassadors, etc.. and as it has been lately been revealed, earning many times over the salaries of Maltese workers in Libya) decided that it was high time to change the double taxation agreement to mean exactly what it states – pay double taxes.  By implying that workers in Libya were tax avoiders (“…and the prevention of fiscal evasion”) and blaming this action on EU/OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) directives (it turns out that this was absolutely not true), the Gonzi-PN regime entered into a new double taxation agreement with the Libyan government of Colonel Gaddafi whereby Maltese nationals working in Libya become liable to pay taxes both in Libya and Malta. This in spite of the fact that Maltese nationals in Libya have been beneficial as a source of foreign currency to the Maltese economy, working in hazardous environment especially in the oilfield industry (not like the consultants, and Maltese ambassadors working in comfortable surroundings), were separated from their families, relatives and friends for long periods of time, and were definitely not a burden on the Maltese. 

To add insult to injury, when Maltese workers in Libya lost their jobs during the civil war in Libya, they were treated with distain by the so called Employment & Training Corporation.  No consultancy jobs for such workers as they had no allegiance with any of the political parties in Malta. Registration for work meant having fingerprints taken, and enduring the arduous task of seeking work through the ETC.  Applications for work remained unanswered without as much as an acknowledgement and since most of such workers were over 50, they were considered unemployable in spite of EU directives to the contrary. When some of the Maltese who had worked in Libya and who had been paying both social security contributions in Malta and INAS contributions in Libya applied for unemployment benefits, they were told that if they had more than €15,000 in the bank they were not eligible to receive benefits. 

Unfortunately, the current Labour government elected with a strong mandate on an electoral manifesto emphasizing justice, seems to be following in its predecessor’s footsteps. It increased the number of ministers, engaged the services of a multitude of highly paid consultants, but has totally ignored the injustices imposed on Maltese workers in Libya who have to pay income tax in Libya, where oil workers spend more than eight months a year, as well as pay income tax in Malta, when they return for a few months to spend some of their hard earned foreign currency. This has been pointed out to the Prime Minister and some of his ministers several times, but to no avail – even though this injustice breaches international agreements of which Malta is signatory with respect to taxable income of overseas workers who exceed nine months in a year located overseas (Articles of the OECD model Tax Convention on Income and Capital, Chapter III, Taxation of Income, Article 15 Income from employment).

With regard to Maltese workers’ security in the current situation in Libya, the staff of the Maltese embassy ran away at the first signs of danger, and the Maltese Minister for Foreign Affairs claimed that that the situation in Libya was not as bad as it was made out to be.  Few days after this incorrect statement, most countries’ governments (USA, British, French, Italian, Philippine, Dutch, etc.) urged their citizens to leave Libya, but our government left this decision up to the Maltese worker. With regard to evacuation plans, although Air Malta planes had been used in the past to transport Maltese workers from Libya to Malta at a subsidized price to vote in general elections, and had earned substantial income also thanks to Maltese workers employed in Libya from one of its most profitable routes (MLA-TIP-MLA), there was no plans to operate its flights to safe areas in Libya (oilfield locations have their own protected airstrips, and various small airports at oil terminals along the coast such as Es Sidra, Raps Lanus, Marsa El-Braga, Sestina, Turku etc.) to evacuate about 400 Maltese workers. On contacting the so called “crisis centre” in the Foreign Affairs Office at about the end of July, Maltese workers in Libya were told that commercial flights were available from Mitiga Airport Tripoli to Malta at a high cost of €1,200, and that advance payment had to be made to a local agent in Malta (average Air Malta flight ticket one way is normally about €250). The other option was a commercial flight to Greece. When asked whether there were any plans to evacuate Maltese workers from Libya, the Foreign Office’s response was that there were none – in other words there was no plan “B”. Unfortunately, Oil Services Contracting Companies’ cash flow of foreign currency had dwindled to low levels due to client companies late payments as there had been no income due to the stoppage of oil shipments. Some other contracting companies had to shut down their offices in Malta to avoid the bureaucracy created by the unjustly changed “double taxation agreement between Malta and Libya”, and did not have representation in Malta to pay the high costs of commercial air flights operating from Libya to Malta.  They thus had no choice but to use their local currency (Libyan Dinars) and engage the services of Libyan and Tunisian travel agents to purchase air tickets for their employees diverted through the Tunisian border. 

Travelling this route however was fraught with danger, as criminal gangs had been stopping travellers to steal their personal belongings, their money and sometimes take them as hostage for ransom. Accompanied by another expatriate from Bosnia Herzegovina, we were driven by a kind hearted and courageous Libyan driver, and passed through several check points guarded by various militias armed to their teeth as we travelled from Tripoli to places such as Mai, Trebbia, Az-Zawyah, Surman, Sabratha, Zwara, Zelten, Abu Kammash, and the Libyan-Tunisian border of Ras Ajdir.  During our journey, we saw long queues of vehicles waiting to refuel at petrol stations, some of which were closed down due to the fuel shortage.  It is ironic that an oil producing country finds itself in this situation. The Libyan militias guarding the check points just waved us through, realizing that we were foreign workers escaping imminent danger. The Libyan border guards helped us jump the queue to speed up the process of crossing the border, and the Tunisian guards assisted us on the other side to go on our way in transit through their country. I am grateful for the cooperation extended to us by the aforementioned authorities. We then engaged a Tunisian taxi driver who took us to the town of Ben Gardene (a border town about 35 km from the Libyan -Tunisian border) where we collected our electronic air tickets to travel from Djerba (island in southeast Tunisia) to Tunis (capital of Tunisia), to Frankfurt, and to our respective home countries (in my case, Malta). On arriving at Malta International Airport, I thanked the good Lord that I was not met by our local politicians, who would have detained me unnecessarily for their propaganda purposes.

In contrast to this deplorable neglect by Maltese authorities in safeguarding its citizens in a foreign land in times of crisis, most other nations provided the assistance required to evacuate their citizens by all means possible including sending battleships (Britain did so).  The Philippines government also engaged ships and arranged for Philippine Airlines planes to evacuate Filipino citizens to safety from the turmoil in Libya (more than 12,000 Philippine nationals) and to fly them home from Malta to the Philippines, located on the other side of the world. This was all done in an organised manner at the Philippines government’s expense, because their government appreciates the good work of expatriate Filipinos who are an invaluable source of foreign currencies to their islands when they work abroad. Moreover, although the Philippines government does not have a double taxation agreement with the Libyan government, the Filipino nationals working abroad are not obliged to pay taxes in the Philippines because it is acknowledged that they are of invaluable assistance to the country’s economy. Considering that the Philippines is regarded as a rather poor nation, with a substantial amount of its citizens living below the poverty line, and classified as a Third World country, what does that make bankrupt Malta? Is there any listing for Fourth World countries?

It is obvious that Maltese workers in Libya are being used (to obtain their votes, as a source of foreign currency, and reduce unemployment), and abused (unjust imposition of taxation in spite of working overseas, and for propaganda purposes) by their own government, and forgotten in times of crises. So much for idle talk in Parliament and the shedding of crocodile tears by our politicians.

Raymond Sammut

(30 years of service in Libya)

Mellieha