Malta’s experience on economic growth and the strengthening of the social sector as complementary factors was discussed in Edinburgh by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Dr Muscat was taking part in an academic and political talk with more than 100 students from the University of St Andrews.

The emphasis on the social dimension in economic policy was instrumental to the success of his administration, he said, adding that it was showing that progressive politics could make a real difference in people’s lives.

He described Malta’s decision for voting rights to be extended to 16-year-olds as one of the pillars of a wide programme based on progressive values.

Malta, he said, had opened itself to open business with open frontiers. The exchange of ideas, capital and technology in a globalised world was fundamental to the creation of economic and social wealth.

While continuing to build on the maritime and tourism sectors, Malta invested strongly in sectors such as i-gaming, financial services, and digital technologies.

This led to thousands of foreign workers being welcomed in Malta - one of every six workers in Malta were now foreign, including two per cent who were Britons.

Malta’s success, he said, was all due to halting austerity as an economic philosophy. He said that when his government took over, it had inherited a deficit of 3.5% and debt which was more than 71% of the gross domestic product.

The European Union used to say that Malta should increase taxes, cut down on social expenditure, and reduce government investment. “We did the opposite because an economy cannot grow if it is held back,” Dr Muscat said.

His government had also changed the welfare system from a passive one which left people at risk of poverty to an active one which helped get people back on their feet. A silent social revolution had taken place, he said.

Malta had also moved ahead with a radical agenda for civil liberties. Up to 2011 it was the only EU country which prohibited divorce. There was a thirst for change and by two years later it had embarked on reforms in favour of an open and equal society.

Civil unions were introduced and eventually equal marriage for all. LGBT couples could start adopting children and a law on gender identity was enacted. The government was now in consultation with civil society and experts to decriminalise marijuana and regularise prostitution.

A progressive policy, Dr Muscat said, was the only way forward for the strengthening of democracies and their societies.

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