Expats furious with financial discrimination in Malta have started a campaign protesting at the unfair way the government treats them.
Many European expats who have moved to Malta have been stunned to realise that the country operates a system of dual pricing for utilities and bus fares.
Now the petition, which has been signed by more than 1,110 expats, says they are fed-up with Maltese companies charging them between 35% and 60% more than nationals for electricity, water, public transport, internet services and car registration.
They are now urging the Prime Minister of the new Labour administration, Joseph Muscat, to act and bring dual pricing to an end.
The petition was started by Patricia Graham, who originally comes from Scotland, who says she wants to bring an end to what is blatant discrimination.
Prime minister’s promise
Indeed, one group of expats has already begun a class action against one of Malta’s biggest utility companies in a bid to be charged the same prices as nationals are.
The situation, which comes as a surprise to many of those moving to Malta, is now causing resentment between expats and locals.
The group behind the petition has been assured that the protest will not be ignored and that the new government is against all forms of discrimination.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “A specially appointed Parliamentary committee will evaluate the petition and propose a discussion in Parliament on its contents.”
The announcement was greeted warmly by Mrs Graham but she feared that the government was trying to side track the campaign.
Meanwhile, a move to replace ID cards for expats living in Malta with an e-residence card has led to scenes of chaos with people having to queue for several hours to be seen by an official.
Residence card chaos
Many people of those queuing at the Citizenship and Expatriate Department have described the situation as ‘a nightmare’.
Applicants found there was no receptionist to help them and there was no advice on what they were expected to do with many queuing unsuccessfully for hours to try to resolve the problem.
Malta launched the new system in January and said all applications had to be made in person after making an appointment via email, though many people queuing said they were doing so to meet their appointment but no one knew what was going on.
Many applicants were told that they should consider themselves lucky if they were served by someone within two hours of their appointment.
Now, officials are working their way through a backlog of more than 3,000 applications from expats.
