Globalisation has brought along a myriad opportunities and benefits, but unfortunately our extensive connectivity and the fact that we live in a virtually borderless world have their disadvantages too.

The coronavirus outbreak and fast widespread is a perfect example. The pandemic’s developements have become a regular on our headlines; its all we can think about at the moment, and unfortunately, it will be with us for more weeks, if not months, to come.

It is safe to say that the world was caught off-guard and that this sudden outburst stopped us in our tracks. The major widespread of this virus is almost reminiscent of a world war, albeit this time, mankind is not in control – at least not until a cure is found. Until then we can only expect matters to become even more complicated and to be faced with more complex ramifications.

While the medical aspect of this outbreak remains the crux of our concerns, there are also other elements which need to be given due attention. Essentially, the world is currently faced with a twin crisis situation – in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus and deal with the public health threat it poses, most states introduced preventive measures such as travel restrictions, both within and outside their borders. Unfortunately, these measures are slowly bringing our economies to a standstill, they are compounding the outbreak’s hit on the global economy and we may be heading right into an unprecedented global recession. This is of course unless the necessary measures are taken at the right time to ease the pain and slowly turn the tables back in our favour, which is very difficult at a global level.

Among other things, the outbreak threw a wet blanket over the global tourism industry, with airlines, travel agencies and hoteliers suffering a major blow in the past couple of weeks which unfortunately is expected to be prolonged over the summer months. Of course this is a major cause of concern for a country like Malta, considering that tourism is one of our top economic strengths. Looking at this matter from a consumer point of view, many suffered losses because of non-refundable fees, however, now that most services are being cancelled by the operators themselves, customers should be getting refunded.

However, on the other hand our businesses are suffering huge and unrecoverable losses. Zeroing in on  European airlines, the past days were characterised by major calls for the easing of European Union state aid rules which would allow member states to throw them a life line before they are brought to their knees. At this point in time this is crucial, especially for airlines which were already struggling before this crisis, including our very own AirMalta, which has gone through a rough patch over the past few years and cannot afford to be brought down again now after it had started to get back up on its feet.

In response to this and outcries by several other sectors, the EU is currently undertaking a major operation to fight the outbreak on all fronts. To deal with the economic repurcussions, last week the Commission came forward with proposals aimed at protecting workers and companies against income losses through measures such as simplified state aid rules, as well as financial assistance from the EU budget and the European Investment Fund. Certainly, these will not be enough and member states are expected to do more to help mitigate the economic impact of the crisis on the ground.

In fact, the Maltese government has this week announced a rescue package worth €1.8bn aimed at helping with companies’ liquidity issues and sustaining salaries of their employees in an attempt to mitigate the coronavirus’ impact on the economy. Again, one would ask, is this enough? On the outset it may seem like it is not, and in fact the announcement was met with some criticism, but we cannot be shortsighted and expect the government to give unsustainable aid. At this critical juncture, we need all hands on deck and while its obvious that at some point in time everyone will be shouldering some form of burden, here the government is sending a clear message that it will be stepping in to assist in any way possible and that no one will be left to drown. Our economy is strong and resilient because this government stepped up and planned ahead over the years, and one can rest assured that this government will do anything to preserve this economic miracle.

Alex Agius Saliba is an MEP