Helen Raine finds Brexit could leave Maltese in the lurch. She speaks to three women whose future in the UK is now full of uncertainty, wrapped up in lots of red tape. 

Britain’s vote to leave the EU has massive implications not just for Britons, but for the estimated 28,000 Maltese citizens who have been living happily in the UK for years.

Dr Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel, Marie Claire Saliba and Francesca Falzon are three of those.

Kathrina is a senior lecturer in dance studies at the Royal Academy of Dance – she is married and is expecting a baby in November. Francesca is a project manager at a management consultancy firm in central London and is in a long-term relationship. Marie Claire has just moved to the UK to be with her British fiancé.

All were dismayed by the Brexit vote and are working to understand why it happened and what it means for them.

“It came as a complete shock to me and my friends and colleagues living in London. I think the ‘Stay’ campaign was weak and failed to highlight the benefits of the EU, while the ‘Leave’ campaign based their arguments on lies and appealed to the emotions of the ignorant. However, I think we cannot simply blame the campaigns, as the vote reflected an increase in discontent, among the British, with foreigners,” Francesca says.

“Brexit can be compared to a voice for ‘liberation’ from a culture of migration. It was driven by the notion of independence and a restoration of cultural identity,” Kathrina says. She felt that pro-Brexit leaders “capitalised on groups of people who were disillusioned with immigration, cultural diversity and… the economy… EU migrants have been criticised for taking the jobs of locals”.

This sentiment is misplaced, she feels, pointing out that “as an economic migrant, I have contributed as much as my UK-born colleagues”.

 

What Will Brexit Bring?

The women have different concerns about the possible outcomes of Brexit. Working in a university, Kathrina is concerned about the mentality behind the vote and its implications for society.

“Within the higher education context, it is important to retain cultural diversity” so that students and staff can experience “a mixture of perspectives on the world. Higher education thrives on bringing the best thinkers to the academic community, whether they are Italian, Maltese, French, or Belgian.”

Francesca is more worried about the economic fallout. “Sterling fell 10 per cent, house sales in London have collapsed and business sentiment is low,” she says.

Kathrina has a particularly interesting take on life as a Maltese in Britain because she took up her graduate teaching assistantship, that led to her current career, in 2004, the year that Malta joined the EU. It’s a moment she describes as “pivotal”, saying, “prior to that, Maltese citizens had to apply for student or two-year working holiday visas in order to study or gain employment. Both had restrictions and limited our opportunities. Indeed, if Malta hadn’t entered the EU in 2004, I was told my graduate teaching assistantship at the University of Surrey would not have materialised”.

All three feel that being in the EU is also a good thing for women. “I think the EU has helped broaden the horizons of people towards women in society, which has led to better opportunities,” Francesca says. For her, the EU brings basic fairness: “The idea is that we have a level playing field across countries and that we avoid a ‘race to the bottom’, where countries use the excuse of competitiveness to forsake basic standards in the workplace and quality of life.”

“At a glance, maternity leave and family leave are miles better in the UK [than in Malta],” Marie Claire adds.

 

Little Britain

While neither Francesca nor Kathrina have experienced xenophobia personally, either before or after the Brexit vote, Kathrina has occasionally seen the racist underbelly of Britain exposed.

“There have been episodes of racially motivated acts of protest in South East England. I have heard of cards being posted in letterboxes, saying particular communities should go back to their homeland, and seen TV footage of demonstrations that voice anti-immigration movements,” she says.

“Many of my colleagues at work were very upset with the Brexit outcome. It has made sections of communities become closer,” she adds. What has been even more disruptive for her, however, has been the political turmoil in Westminster.

“In view of new leadership in Parliament, we continue with our usual routine until we have any further updates, including on when Article 50 will be activated, whether long-term or recently migrated EU citizens will have their status altered and how the economy will evolve. In the meantime, we can talk about the weather and enjoy a cup of tea,” Kathrina says.

Marie Claire is appalled by hate crimes that have come in the wake of Brexit. “The worst, in my opinion, was vandalism at a school with a large Polish population. What kind of people threaten children?”

She adds: “My non-British colleagues are somewhat concerned, while one British colleague found herself wondering if she looked British enough to avoid harassment on the street.

“I have not been harassed… However… it is always made clear that I’m not from here, I’m foreign and will always be.”

 

Back to Fear for the Future

When asked about their hopes and fears for the future, Kathrina says she hopes that Brexit will bring the communities in the UK together to closely consider the human lives that construct and sustain the economy.

“Lives matter, whatever creed, culture, or language we speak. We all have a duty of care.”

Professionally, she says her concerns are “largely driven by the potential loss of research funding, a decline in student diversity and a loss of EU academics in the post-Brexit period.

“I hope the Brexit negotiations will allow for some remnants of connections to the EU to remain and that residency rights will be offered to long-standing contributors to the economy,” she adds.

Francesca hopes that the Sterling strengthens. “Brexit certainly adds an element of uncertainty to my future in London,” she points out.

Marie Claire’s hope is that “the UK and EU economies will recover from the blow, and that human kindness will outweigh the nastiness that has surfaced. Brexit, for me, means more red tape to live and work in the UK alongside my British fiancé, and a whole host of uncertainty”.

None of the women plan on returning to Malta immediately, although Francesca adds that it depends on the outcome of the negotiations. With Theresa May now at the helm as Britain’s second woman Prime Minister, perhaps a pragmatic, female approach will help those negotiations succeed.

If not, Marie Claire sums up the consequence of Brexit most succinctly, saying: “I suppose it makes me a bit more likely to return at some point, if living and working [in the UK] becomes too full of red tape and xenophobia. But we’re lucky that way aren’t we? We have somewhere else to go if we want to leave. The Brits don’t!”

This article first appeared in Pink Magazine