On Bondiplus of the 27 April, Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi stated that the aim of Labour MEPs was to hinder the government in its work. Asked who these candidates are Dr Gonzi mentioned me by name: Marlene Mizzi.
While I find the intention behind this purposeful negative statement is meant only to damage my reputation right in the middle of an electoral campaign – despicable and cheap – I would like to thank Dr Gonzi, the leader of the PN, for giving me a first-class endorsement. His statement clearly means that Marlene Mizzi’s duty as an MEP will be first and foremost to the citizen and not to the government. I declare that I will abide by my duties to the full.
The MEPs are representatives of the people. They are not government appointees and as such they are duty bound to act in the sole interest of Malta and its citizens, members of the EU, even if it means criticising the government.
I would like to reproduce an extract of an article I had written in this regard and which seems to have irked Dr Gonzi into making this statement. The reader will judge for themselves the correctness of my writings.
“My decision to run for the European parliamentary elections in June was prompted by the belief I can help stop the rot. We all can. We suffer the government’s rampant intolerance, its inefficiency, its waste of taxpayer’s funds because we are a decent people who are shamelessly used and abused the minute the elections are over. Ironically the party that lead the country into the EU has become the least respectful of EU ethics, of the decency, the temperance, the honesty and the moderation the EU insists politicians adopt as their creed.
“A strong Labour team at the European parliament can hamper our government from treating people as though they were chattel. We shall name and shame the government each time it lets our country down. We shall convince politicians in Europe this is a government gone wrong. We want Malta to honour its EU obligations in the same way the Maltese must begin to enjoy the rights and benefits that are rightful theirs – as EU citizens.
“As far as I am concerned, you can count on me.” (Times of Malta, 27 February, 2009)
I stand by this and reiterate my promise that I will be there for my country and its people and not for the government.
Dr Gonzi must realise that we are not part-time members of the EU. Nor is the EU some franchise owned exclusively by the Nationalist government. We cannot call on the EU when, how and if it pleases Dr Gonzi, his party or his government. The EP is a democratic institution consisting of persons elected by the citizens for the citizens. Brussels is not there to please Dr Gonzi, and nor am I.
In June, the Maltese, citizens of the EU, will choose between MEP candidates who are there to toe the line of the government, and candidates who have no fear of standing up to Dr Gonzi and his team in the interest of Malta and its citizens who have entrusted them with their vote, even at the cost of being victimised by them.
Finally I would like to state that nothing, and no one, will intimidate me from working in the sole interest of my country and its people. Nobody has intimidated me in the past and nobody will do so in the present, or in the future. I am not malleable and my principles are not for sale. Dr Gonzi knows this and that is why I am a problem to him and his party. That is why he does not want me as an MEP.
Dr Gonzi has brought out the best traits in me – standing up for what I believe in, come what may. He has done it in the shameful case of Sea Malta and he is doing it again now. Thank you, Dr Gonzi.
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