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In Malta anything can happen: the Socialist party can win an election by opposing VAT and taking income tax evaders by the short and curlies; the world’s most Catholic Christian Democrats can oppose divorce but propose legislation on cohabitation. The Prime Minister has made himself president and the ex-President is still undecided whether to return to the hustings.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the present Prime Minister is seeking confirmation of his recent elevation to the post by “winning” the European Parliament election. Nationalists are telling Nationalists that their new PM needs this victory.
It is all so very feeble. The PN may want another victory and certainly wants to avoid a humiliation but it certainly does not need any victory. It will be the government for the next 4 years at least, come hell or high water. Nationalists are fooling Nationalists once more. With the best of intentions of course.
Nationalists are being invited to vote for PN candidates to ensure representation in the “dominant” political grouping in the European Parliament. It is a strange twist to the winner-takes-all political culture of domestic politics. There is no “dominant” political grouping in the EP. That is precisely the best thing about the European Parliament.
Compromise and a talent for making out what will achieve the greatest consensus, is the major talent there. It is light years away from Malta. Still Nationalists are invited to “go for the winners” when there are no such winners.
The Greens have a very special place in the European Parliament. The PPE (PN) and PSE (MLP) are poles apart just as they are in Malta. When an issue comes to the vote they cancel one another out with predictable regularity. When this happens the issue is decided by the parties between them. Disagreement between the PPE and the PSE hands a disproportionate weight of decision-making to the Greens. They have handled it exceedingly well over the years.
Malta can be represented in this crucial grouping through the candidacy of Arnold Cassola by Alternattiva Demokratika. What truly matters in this election is not whether the PN or the MLP have the most votes but whether Arnold Cassola is elected to give Malta a place in a crucial third political grouping in the European Parliament.
By comparison all else fades into insignificance. It appears that we have the PN spin machine running scared because the rumours reaching us are tremendous. Every other day someone asks me whether I am in favour of abortion. I ask where they heard this nonsense and the answer usually protects the identity of some miserable PN spinpusher.
The slur about abortion is kept on a dirty spin level because the PN has already lost a libel suit about it. In the 1996 election George Pullicino, panicking about Green pressure on his district, blurted it out in public. He was immediately sued and was slapped in the face with the document signed by AD on joining the European Federation of Green Parties. He avoided paying out a significant penalty by making a public retraction which was broadcast on the state media immediately before the 1996 election.
We had made our position crystal clear as far back as 1992. Mr Pullicino had not noticed. He mistook our greatest strength for a weak point. We have no qualms about insisting on our principles when we are in the company of our friends abroad. What we say in Malta, we say abroad. We have always done so. It would not be a bad thing if PN highfliers could say the same.
The spin doctors know that this was a long time ago and that they can start again. The lie travels through the ranks of the devout. Many members of the clergy have been heard repeating it in all innocence; the charismatics are abused as a PN sounding board. Ordinary people who show any sympathy for the Greens are made to feel like abortionists. It is a huge, scandalous lie. All in a good cause of course: to boost the PM’s morale.
It will not stop because the Greens do not control the media and their rivals can invent any story they like and make it stick. The PN spinmeisters can lie with impunity and immense advantage because too few people will read this article and very few will take the trouble to check out such slanders with the Greens. What proportion of voters will take the trouble to go through our electoral manifesto to confirm that the spinmeisters are liars? Lies pay.
There is one acid test to all this: it is never said in public, never written in a newspaper, never broadcast in the party media, never in any way that would expose the liars to another libel suit. It is the cloak and dagger dirty war of words.
Is it worth it? To make a “victor” of Lawrence Gonzi? To confirm his absurd boast that the last 12 months were an ‘exceptional year”. To make sure that the PN has 3 MEPs in the same place rather than two? To make sure that Arnold Cassola does not give Malta a voice in a third political grouping in the European parliament where it would count most?
A Green seat in the EP elections would mean that the most probable result would be two seats for the PN, two for the MLP and one for the Greens. It would be an ideal result. There would be no victors to trouble our streets with carcades and mayhem. We would all be able to celebrate Malta’s entry into the EU in a decent, dignified and less divided way. The only way that we can all win is if nobody “wins”. Lawrence Gonzi will still be Prime Minister and none the worse. His spinmeisters are doing him no favour: he would be better off if his tenure was not bolstered by a pack of scandalous lies.
Dr Vassallo is Chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party
www.arnold.cassola.com
hcvassallo@kemmunet.net
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