A total 3,000 work permits were issued to third country nationals seeking employment in Malta in June, the same number as the whole of the first five months of 2018, the Prime Minister said.
Joseph Muscat was addressing a special dialogue session for entrepreneurs and businessmen organised by the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.
In his remarks, the Prime Minister dwelled on the shortage of labour, which he said was being faced by the Maltese economy. He insisted that foreign workers could “fill a vacuum” left by Maltese employees in certain sectors and cautioned against viewing foreign workers as a threat.
“We must not allow our shortage of labour to affect our competitiveness,” he said.
In his address, he pre-empted employers’ criticism of the long-time it took to process work permit applications for non-EU nationals wanting to work in Malta. Dr Muscat said he recently ordered a review of the system in a bid to expedite the process.
He noted that between January and May, a total of 3,000 work permits were issued. However, following the implementation of certain measures which came into force at the beginning of June, there was a spike in approved permits with the number reaching 3,000 in June alone.
While insisting that government would not rest on its laurels, the Prime Minister pointed out that one had to keep in mind that such system was not operated in isolation but in collaboration with European institutions.
If we process too many we are criticised that too many visas are being issued. There has to be a fine balance
“If we process too many we are criticised that too many visas are being issued. There has to be a fine balance,” he said.
Chamber President Frank Farrugia spoke about the Chamber’s main concerns including commercial utility rates, traffic, abuse of movement of goods from other member states and lack of industrial space for the manufacturing industry.
He called on the government to take on the Chamber’s proposal in relation to the beverage container refund scheme which was still in the pipeline.
The government, he said, should limit its role as regulator and allow the private sector to manage the system itself.
He said that the Chamber had recently signed a memorandum of understanding with GreenPak Coop, Green MT and the GRTU. It had no intention to get involved in the operation of the system, which should be run on a not-for-profit-basis, it said.
The Chamber, Mr Farrugia said, was keen to present a number of proposals for a new logistics park which could make use of blockchain technology.
The meeting continued behind closed doors.