Written by Rachel Baldacchino

Hello, I’m Rachel and this September I will be starting my last year of secondary education. Economics has always been one of my favourite subjects at school. This year I have decided to take part in the National Youth Parliament 2020. I had heard about this opportunity from various places, one of them being an email the school sent giving details about the Kunsill Nazzjonali taz-Zghazagh. One of the topics for discussion this year is about the Economic consequences of Covid-19. Needless to say, that that spiked my interest.
Due to covid-19 all of our meetings are being held online through Zoom. All participants have chosen a group each representing a different point of view which in our opinion has been affected by covid: social protection, business and infrastructure.
I have chosen social protection because it is something I can relate to because we hear about it everywhere, we often talk about it and even hear about it on the news. In our meetings we try to come up with new ideas and find ways to make them work. We normally have an open discussion on certain topics such as health and schools. I have learnt many new things and gained a lot more knowledge such as finding out about UBI (universal basic income). We still have a lot more research to do and a lot more meetings to attend and host. We are all looking forward to the actual debate at the parliament.