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There is an Irish joke about a man who uncorked a bottle found on the seashore. Yes, a leprechaun promptly jumped out. You guessed: the leprechaun offered the Irishman three wishes. “Anything you want” said the leprechaun. “A pot of gold in inflation-proof currency, health and longevity until you get bored, or a jar of whisky that never finishes.”
The Irishman was quick in reply, too quick: “I’ll have three of those, please” he blurted out. In a flash three jars of whisky appeared before him and the leprechaun vanished.
If Lawrence Gonzi has his way there is some danger that this will become a Maltese joke. To hear him sawing away at his current pitch to vote PN and only PN because it is the biggest, the majority, the regime that never ends, is to listen to one of the oldest jokes I know.
Imagine if we sent five PN MEPs to Brussels. Europe would die laughing. After all that squabbling to have five MEPs, putting them all in one basket would be the joke to end all jokes. We have obtained representation which is already 10 times that of Germany in proportion to population. And we waste it all on one political grouping? One that can never hope to have its way without the support of other political groupings? The PPE is only a rather large minority after all.
It would mean that Lawrence Gonzi had not understood a thing about the workings of the European Parliament and had persuaded the country of his misguided convictions. Giving a third seat to the PN or to the MLP gives Malta absolutely nothing new. We gain nothing more by having another jar of endless whisky.
Electing a Green MEP is a quantum leap no candidate other than Arnold Cassola offers.
We can all take it for granted that the PN and the MLP will be represented in the European Parliament. We will all gain something more by securing representation in a third political grouping in the EP.
It also happens that Arnold Cassola is the only candidate with any experience of political life in Brussels. He has spent four years in his office literally across the corridor from the European Parliament hall. He has met with MEPs from every political grouping. He has lobbied every EP committee. He has had the benefit of support from the experts assisting the Green Group/EFA in the European Parliament.
He is well known. He is a leading figure in the Green Group, a household name among the 5 million Greens in 32 Green Parties across the continent. He is familiar with the political situations in each of the member countries having traveled widely at no public expense to Malta.
He is no starry-eyed hopeful. He is tried and tested. He has won his spurs in the years of negotiations having been a constant medium of information and contacts to anybody who needed them. He had been influential in making unofficial contacts between Maltese and European politicians. He has identified funding for Malta which would otherwise have been lost.
In a year and eight months Arnold will resign his post as Secretary General of the European Greens and will not be eligible for re-election. He was fortunate in having his term coincide with the difficult years of accession negotiations. Now is time to put his experience to work as an MEP for Malta.
Ensuring a Maltese presence in the Green Group would mean that a Maltese would have a voice in this crucial political grouping. The larger PPE (PN) and PSE (MLP) groupings cancel each other out whenever an issue comes to a contested vote in the European Parliament. It is the smaller grouping that is then burdened with the responsibility to decide. The Greens have done a consistently splendid job at such times.
Never before has it been so obvious that we could have more than enough of the PN and the MLP. One more MEP lost among the crowd in one of the massive political grouping, will take months to discover the pecking order. He or she will never add an iota to what his or her other colleagues can achieve. Getting to know others can be tough. Getting known can be almost impossible for a newcomer.
In the Green Group Arnold Cassola already has prominence. He is a know figure in the Parliament. As Secretary General of the EFGP he was one of the five Secretaries General who sat together for the past four years to frame the law on the formation of European political parties. He already knows his way about.
He also has a superb track record of asking awkward questions and getting to the facts that others want to keep secret. He has a history of providing facts and figures regardless of the interests of the powers that be. Is that why our political rivals are so frantic?
Dr Vassallo is Chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika
– The Green Party
www.arnoldcassola.com
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