President Emeritus Marie Louise Coleiro Preca has expressed concern on the results of a recent survey which found that a high percentage of young people would rather live abroad than in Malta.

The EY Generate Youth Survey found that 77% of Millennials and 72% of Gen-Z would rather live outside of Malta.

In an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, she was asked whether the high percentage worries her. "It worries me a lot, because if the situation will continue in this manner, then I think that Malta will end up (being) one big elderly home," she said.

Aside from meaning a brain drain for the country, she said Malta doesn't have a high number of births. "We have the lowest birth rate in Europe."

Malta invests in children through its educational system, she explained, but if children go and live abroad, then other societies would be benefitting from that investment instead.

"I'm not saying that youths shouldn't experience going abroad,” she said. Young people should learn that Malta is not the centre of the world. She supports the idea of youths experiencing life abroad, for them to realise that the world is far bigger than Malta and come back with innovative ideas. "But having youths aspiring to emigrate and not return to the country is very worrying. That’s a brain drain.”

“But then who will work here? Who will sustain pensions?” she asked. “Right now there is a strong percentage of foreigners working in Malta, who we are bringing in purposely to work in the country. If we continue having an exodus of young people, then we will end up at the mercy of foreign workers who we will have to bring.”

The survey read that better employment was a top-scoring factor for both generations in their consideration as to where they would prefer to live. Other issues like Malta’s size and being in a quieter space were also mentioned.

Asked what could be done to solve these issues, the former President said she believes “we need to be creative, look at what we want to do with our country.”

Malta’s small size

She said that Malta's size is a factor. 

“If they are telling us that we need more spaces to relax, or where we can spend some time in peace, then that means we need to have a rethink of all the development that is taking place. A rethink of how we can utilise the small space we have in the best way possible,” she said.
Coleiro Preca, who served as President between 2014 and 2019, and is now President of Eurochild, a network of organisations and individuals working with and for children in Europe, also spoke of the need to reflect on Malta’s population numbers.

“We are around half a million today, which is huge, and the population exploded over the span of a few years.”

But she mentioned that there are human resource shortages just the same. 

She spoke of the need for a carrying capacity study. "What should our industries be? What kind of businesses should we have, so that we can create more job opportunities for our youths, who are top-notch in terms of their qualifications, so that they would want to be in our country?"

She said that it wouldn't matter if Maltese contribute to other countries through their professions, but "their home would remain here. And like that, investment in education will continue to serve the Maltese people."

Foreigners in Malta

Asked whether foreigners living in Malta are treated as second-class citizens, she mentioned that she knows of situations where people, unfortunately, aren't being treated as they should be. "We need to have a lot more enforcement against precarious work.”

Those who abuse must carry responsibility, she said.

“You cannot look at workers based on colour, or which country they come from, or at their facial features.” She stressed that all workers’ human rights must be safeguarded.

“When we make these distinctions and make such discrimination between one worker and another, we would be violating, in the most horrible way, the fundamental rights of a human being.”

“Fundamental rights are everyone’s rights,” she said, “and you cannot make a distinction between what is meant to safeguard you and what is meant to safeguard someone else. We are one human family. We all have the same needs regardless of where we are coming from. We have the same aspirations.”

She was asked whether there are culture issues when it comes to how the Maltese treat people coming from different countries.

“People fear what they don't know. But we also have a situation where we suddenly had an influx that we were not prepared for. I don't blame those who are afraid, but to those who are afraid I say inform yourselves, don't be afraid to discuss as you would realise that we all have the same needs, that we all have the same aspirations as human beings, and it doesn't make a difference whether we are Maltese or not.”

“I also expect more leadership on this. Certain discourse does not do any good, and continues to create fear.”

Integrating communities

“We have no programme to seriously integrate and include the different communities who live with us today. There is a need for more understanding and action for there to be a sense of integration.”

She said that when one mentions the word integration, sometimes the reaction would be most negative. "Integration doesn't mean that if we have different cultures, one has to change their culture and adopt the other's culture. It means that we would appreciate each other, that we respect each other. But if you came to my country, then you need to be informed about our culture, traditions and about our behaviour."

She stressed the need to invest in children. “If we do not allow the opportunity for our children to open their minds, our children will suffer.”

She shared a personal experience of hers, where her daughter lived with three women from Nigeria and Ghana while she was studying abroad. “She lived with them for a year, and it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

"If I had raised my daughter with a fear mentality, or as a racist, my daughter would not have spent a single day studying at university, where she ended up graduating from with her Masters. The point is that we need to be careful as what we sow today we would be sowing in our children and could shackle them in their future. That is why we must educate our children to understand that we are one human family regardless of where we come from, with the same needs and aspirations - in the sense that everyone aspires for something no matter where we come from.”

A few years ago, she said, the government mentioned an integration policy. “Until today, I am not seeing that policy in effect. I urge the implementation of such a policy, where those who come to live among us would learn about us, and we would have the opportunity to get to know them."

Green spaces needed

Turning to construction and development in Malta, she was asked whether she likes the way Malta has been growing over recent years. “No, and children tell me this all the time… children have for years been saying that they want green spaces, inclusive spaces, spaces that they can enjoy some peace of mind and de-stress.”

“Unfortunately we don't have a plan. But in my opinion it is pointless for me to accuse you of destroying the area if you own that piece of land… if you were granted a permit that is what you are going to do. With all due respect, if we aren't going to have serious planning in this country, that not only looks out for basic things, but also takes into consideration the people's wellbeing, then we are failing.”

“Malta can't afford, given its limited space, to continue expanding and not paying attention to the wellbeing of the community. I believe we need a complete rethink, and need an independent serious Planning Authority.”

Asked whether she believes politicians can come together to do this, she believes they should.

This is a national issue, not a party-political issue, the former president said. “If we are not going to do damage limitation, our children will not even have good air to breathe.”

Domestic violence

The former President was asked, in the wake of the murder of Bernice Cassar - which is being treated as a femicide - whether enough is being done to combat domestic violence and protect women.

“If we are going to continue with the line of thought that laws solve problems, then we are far off from the truth. We introduced a very important legal amendment, acknowledging femicide as a crime. But even with the amendment, a horrible femicide again took place. Legislation is important, but before that a whole strategy must be thought out. Legislation would be part of the operational plan to implement what we want to implement.”

“We know that Bernice did everything she was supposed to… she filed reports, the court issued a protection order... everything was in place. But what also emerged from this is that, during the process of filing reports - where she would wait hours, filing one after another - there wasn't enough protection for this terrible femicide to be avoided.”

She stressed the need to have a plan to implement what one is introducing into law.

"How can we expect from the police, things that they cannot give." She spoke of the human resource shortage within the police force. “There is also the need for more training so that when a report is filed, the police would understand enough what is needed, and where protection is needed. So here we are talking about human resources and training.”
“We are also talking about how expeditious the courts are. Bernice died on 22 November, and the case regarding the breach of her protection order was going to be heard a year after she died. Then we find out that we have one magistrate (hearing such cases), who has 1,400 pending cases. Now we are saying we will increase the numbers of members of the judiciary who hear domestic violence cases.”

“We know that there is a chance that 1 in every 4 women is experiencing domestic violence. This means, when looking at the Maltese population, that there are around 50,000 women who are suffering in silence. So we also need to look at this fact, and we need to think long-term… Where is this coming from? This is coming from a patriarchal mentality and culture. Laws don't change mentality and culture. You need a process.”

“This is where my second point regarding a need for action comes in, that we invest in our children. We invest in them by empowering them with ethical values of respect and listening to each other," she said.

Achieving objectives

She spoke of the need to look at things holistically whenever introducing a law, to ensure that the objectives of a law are achieved.
"The murder of Bernice was a shock to the system of the Maltese society," she said, adding that while Bernice Cassar was a victim, her children are also victims. 

Asked whether there should be some form of accountability for what happened to Bernice Cassar, and whether she agrees with calls for resignations, she said that what she would do, is reflect on everything. 

"We need to introduce the concept of looking at things holistically into our culture and mentality... so that we would have a plan when we want to take actions."

“Our plan cannot just be for the immediate future, it must be a long-term plan. That is why I mentioned two things that must happen. Firstly, in the immediate future the police force needs increased capacity, it needs more people and more training.”

“Someone recently told me that not many people are joining the police force, and so even that is something we must look into. Why don't we have youths who want to join the disciplined forces? We need to ask this question so that we can motivate and encourage more young people to come forward and be of service to the country.”

Then we have the question of the courts, that it must be more expeditious, she said, highlighting the need to have the needed number of judges.

"I would say that we also have to increase the judiciary’s resources. Why shouldn't we have a system where they would have a psychosocial support team, where they would not have to appoint a court expert for every single case. I'm not saying that we would eliminate that, but that the member of the judiciary would also have an inter-disciplinary team of psychosocial professionals. That way you would also be strengthening the adjudicator's hands so that they would not only look at the legal texts." She said that judges are not trained to be psychologists or psychotherapists.

Secondly, we need to look long-term, and this is about investing in children, she said. "I believe in our children. If we invest in them, tomorrow we would have a more resilient society that would be able to listen, respect, and meet the challenges that we continuously face."