Regional autonomy for Gozo is not separation; it is the institutional capacity to plan locally, invest strategically and retain talent, says Luke Said
Gozo’s recurring struggle is not primarily one of identity, sentiment or separation. It is a structural problem shaped by distance and decision-making. For as long as Gozo has been governed mainly from Valletta, the island has experienced delayed responses, misaligned priorities and a persistent inability to address its own needs in real time.
Looking back, the past is instructive. The creation of the Gozo Civic Council in the late 1950s did not emerge from political idealism but from administrative failure. By the mid-20th century, centralised governance had left Gozo with underdeveloped infrastructure, fragile public services, limited economic prospects and sustained emigration.
Decisions affecting the island were taken across a channel, by authorities whose focus lay elsewhere and whose planning frameworks were designed for Malta’s urban and industrial context. Gozo’s problems were known but, yet, consistently secondary.
The Civic Council emerged precisely to correct this imbalance. Its establishment followed years of advocacy rooted in a simple premise: proximity matters. Once operational, the council demonstrated, quickly and decisively, that local authority produced better outcomes. Roads were built, together with the new hospital, port, school, desalination plant, and public buildings were maintained. Social services became more responsive, community participation increased and economic initiatives were tailored to Gozo’s scale and labour market.
This success was not accidental. The council combined elected representation with defined administrative powers and limited financial autonomy. It gathered data locally, set priorities locally and implemented projects without waiting for Valletta’s political calendar. For the first time since the 19th century, Gozo had an institution capable of translating local knowledge into action. Its abolition in 1973 was not the result of inefficiency or failure. It was a political decision driven by centralising instincts, ironically, the same dynamics in Valletta that had earlier pushed for the creation of the same council.
Gozo did not lose the Civic Council because it underperformed; it lost it because it worked.
This pattern is not unique to civil governance. A parallel, albeit apolitical, example exists in the establishment of the Diocese of Gozo. For centuries, ecclesiastical administration from Malta proved structurally inadequate for an island separated by sea and limited communications. The creation of a local curia resolved those
deficiencies not through separation but through presence. Proximity improved governance, accountability and effectiveness, without undermining unity. The lesson is clear and historically consistent.
Regional autonomy in Gozo is not a radical proposal, nor an emotional appeal. It is a return to a model already validated by experience. Where governance is closer, outcomes improve. Where authority is local, responsibility follows. The question is no longer whether autonomy works but why a proven solution continues to be withheld.
The lesson from Gozo’s history is clear: proximity, local authority and accountable governance matter and produce measurable outcomes. Yet, in 2026, despite a visibly expanding regional economy, Gozo remains administered at a distance. The problem is not growth as such but the shape it takes: who benefits from it, how it is structured and whether it is capable of sustaining a future rooted in Gozo rather than exporting its people elsewhere.
Recent business sentiment reflects undeniable momentum. According to the Gozo Business Sentiment Survey of September 2025, 38% of firms reported improved business activity over the previous six months, up from 30% earlier in the year. The net balance of firms reporting better conditions stands at +30%, the highest level recorded since the survey’s inception. Investment intentions are similarly strong: 63% of enterprises expect to invest in the coming six months, the highest proportion since 2023. More than half of all firms plan to increase their workforce, while 34% have already expanded employment in the past six months.
By conventional economic indicators, this is a healthy economy.
Yet, growth that cannot anchor people is incomplete. Despite expanding activity, the most frequently cited constraint, identified by 53% of businesses, is the lack of suitable employees. Jobs exist, capital is available but the local labour supply remains insufficiently aligned with demand. Consequently, nearly 65% of firms employ at least one non-local worker, not as a preference but as an operational necessity.
Cost pressures further complicate this picture. Over the next six months, 68% of businesses expect input prices to rise, while 32% anticipate increasing their own selling prices. At the same time, 40% of firms identify rising costs as a main challenge.
These pressures inevitably pass through to households, manifesting as higher prices, tighter margins and declining real purchasing power, with disproportionate effects on small enterprises and middle-income families.
Growth is also uneven across sectors. While headline indicators suggest optimism, wholesale and retail activity is slowing, while transport, construction and tourism face starker cost constraints.
Aggregate confidence is masking significant variation in how different sectors – and communities – experience economic expansion.
These tensions in growth are exacerbated by persistent administrative inertia. Critical infrastructure projects are repeatedly delayed: the much-touted improved Gozo General Hospital exists only in planning documents, the new Gozo courts appear largely in press releases and hundreds of roads remain cratered despite seven-year repaving promises. Essential public amenities lag behind demand: the fast-ferry terminal continues to operate under temporary tents, study spaces for Gozitan students are repeatedly postponed and local councils remain dependent on ministry approvals for even minor events or infrastructure works.
Education, research and innovation infrastructure display the same pattern of neglect. The Gozo campuses of ITS, MCAST and the University of Malta lack targeted investment, the innovation hub and park-and-ride lie empty and atmospheric research instruments at Ta’ Ġordan have been inactive for over two and a half years. As a result, specialised scientific roles, precisely the kind of employment that could anchor skilled workers in Gozo, remain unrealised.
The solution is not abstract. Labour shortages must be converted into opportunity. Training at MCAST, ITS and the University of Malta Gozo Campus must be aligned with the realities of Gozo’s labour market, with a focus on technical skills, digital tools, environmental and marine sciences, tourism and entrepreneurship. These are not speculative areas. High-value, sustainable sectors; research, creative industries, climate science, ecotourism depend on continuity, local leadership and deliberate investment.
Transport is central to this equation. Unreliable inter-island connections impose unproductive waiting time, increase costs and weaken competitiveness across sectors. In this context, productivity growth is not optional. Investment in skills, automation, digital upgrades and energy efficiency is the only sustainable response to rising input costs and prices.
Gozo’s economy functions, but not optimally; nor inclusively, organically or autonomously. Growth without opportunity is growth without impact. Regional autonomy is not separation; it is the institutional capacity to plan locally, invest strategically and retain talent, ensuring Gozo’s growth works for the people who live here, not just for abstract metrics or centralised agendas.
