There is no doubt that one of the major aspects relevant to the debate as to whether Malta should join the European Union or not is that of work. This is understandably so because the level of employment in any economy, and more so in Malta, is taken to reflect the performance of the economy and subsequently the level of wellbeing of a population.
The internal political debate has been characterised for decades now by a continual discussion on employment and unemployment, and therefore it would be no surprise at all if most Maltese are looking at Malta's membership of the EU from this perspective.
There are two aspects to the issue - employment prospects and conditions of work. For an employee both are important as no employee would be happy to work but see his or her rights being nibbled away by legislation or through social injustice.
Neither would he or she be happy with having all conditions of work safeguarded but having no work to do. In other words, the expectation is that of good prospects of work under the right conditions. This week's contribution focuses on employment prospects rather than conditions of work.
For those who consider EU membership from a negative perspective with regard to work, their major concern is the possibility of foreigners coming to work here, either on a self-employed basis or as employees working presumably in hotels, factories construction sites, etc.
It is very significant to note that those Maltese that are concerned about employment prospects once we become full effective members of the EU are not concerned that we would be losing jobs to other countries by, for example, having investment shifted elsewhere - their concern is solely of foreigners coming to work here.
How realistic is this concern? In Malta we have had various experiences in the last 15 years, when employment creation was quite strong, of foreigners coming to work here. Their stay in Malta has always been relatively short, mainly until the Maltese learnt the specialist skill that such foreigners would have had.
A case in point is the influx that we had in the construction sector of a number of Italians in the early 1990s. Today there are very few of them left, because the Maltese worker is able to do what these Italians could do at a lower cost and probably better.
We have not had any influx of foreign workers in factories because it was not possible for them to do so. This occurred not because of legislative provisions but because of technical issues, like knowledge of the language.
The same can be said about the hotel sector or the commercial sector. It is very difficult for a Greek, a German or a Polish worker to come here and expect to work when it is very unlikely that he would be in a position to understand instructions given to him or to communicate effectively with his colleagues. So this concern is more based on emotion rather than logic.
Moreover, any influx of foreign workers can only be expected to happen (once we become full effective members of the EU and there would be the consequent free movement of people) if there is going to be a significant increase in work opportunities in Malta.
This is what happened in North Italy and Germany at the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s, when they had a number of immigrants from within what then used to be called the European Economic Community, precisely because there were more jobs on offer than there were workers available. There is never an influx of workers from outside a country or a region unless there are adequate job opportunities.
Thus, the expectation of an influx of foreign workers is tied to the expectation of improved employment prospects in Malta as a result of our membership of the EU.
Are those concerned about EU membership and its effects on employment willing to subscribe to this cause-effect relationship? Probably not, but this is what they are implying when they express such concerns. On the other hand, those in favour of membership expect positive developments to take place on the employment front.
In fact, the irony is that the fear of such persons is not so much of foreign workers coming to Malta but of an exodus of Maltese workers going to work in other EU member states. Probably, even this is unrealistic, as we are more likely to want to work in our country than elsewhere.
But, in any case, this would be a choice that would be open to us and such a choice cannot be seen as something negative. So the real issue is that membership of the EU does not take work opportunities away from us (no one has expressed this concern) and does not cause an influx of foreign workers unless we are bulging at the seams with job opportunities (the counter argument does not hold water logically).
However, it would be fair to ask if EU membership would actually create new work opportunities. And the answer is yes. Guaranteed free and unrestricted access to the market of the EU member states together with access to markets in countries with whom the EU has a trade agreement are two good reasons why the EU would create job opportunities.
Add to this those companies from outside the EU who would wish to get a foothold in the EU market and our ability to attract such companies. Add to this the educational and training programmes of the EU that would add to the skills base of the Maltese and therefore attract more investment.
Add to this the stability that EU membership would offer from a social and political point of view and we know that investment goes where there is stability. Add to this the strength that our economy would acquire from being an integral part of a very important economic bloc.
Membership of the EU would not create jobs similar to those of the labour corps of the 1970s but would create opportunities that can be transformed into jobs; jobs that are secure because they are economically justifiable.
A good analogy to take would be the Malta Freeport. The construction of the Freeport Terminal did not create jobs, but it created business opportunities that were turned into jobs.
It is up to us to exploit all the opportunities for job creation that membership of the EU would present us because, in effect, EU membership would mean jobs for the Maltese in Malta.