POINTS OF VIEW MaltaToday asks prominent personalities and opinion formers to comment on the campaign themes
Julian Vassallo
European Parliament office, Malta
People may have their legitimate reasons to stay home on June 6th but the idea that it will not make a difference either way cannot be one of them. Who we choose to represent us will make a difference, and here is why: 1. There is no doubt that all the candidates do not share the same policies and qualities. Staying home means that your neighbour gets to choose what policies and qualities your representatives will have.
2. Being an effective MEP is not an easy job. If you want people able to put Malta’s concerns on the table and convince their political groups to heed them, their Committees to endorse their proposals and the EP as a whole to include them, choose carefully. Not everybody is up to it.
3. The EP Election is not another version of “who wants to be a millionaire”, but our MEPs will have the funds and facilities to hire staff and run Offices in Malta and Brussels. We need to choose candidates that will place those facilities at our service as citizens – to answer our queries and obtain solutions to those problems that have a European solution.
4. EU citizenship bestows numerous economic, political and social rights upon us that government is obliged to guarantee. It may well be that not all of those rights have been fully and correctly implemented in Maltese law and practice. Our MEPs can play a central role in ensuring that we enjoy all the protection, benefits and opportunities that EU citizenship bestows. Not all candidates will be equally effective at playing that role.
5. Yes, the laws and regulations that seem to have the most direct and immediate impact on our lives seem to emanate from national authorities and not from the European Parliament. But this is often misleading because depending on how you calculate it, more or less half all the legislation adopted by the Maltese Parliament is simply implementing EU law which has been adopted in the European Parliament. So we need MEPs who can shape EU legislation to Malta’s advantage in the EP before it is passed down for implementation when it is too late.
6. The EP has important budgetary powers, which will cover the whole of the EU budget including structural funds if the Lisbon treaty comes into force. In the years when Malta moves closer to the average EU income and its right to large-scale funding becomes less obvious Malta will need representatives that ensure that we get all that it is due and not a penny less.
7. Even five years after membership there is still more work to be done to familiarise all EU institutions with the needs and aspirations of the Maltese; with the strengths and vulnerabilities of our economy; with the peculiarity of our culture and the fibre of our society. But you cannot defend the interests and aspirations of a country and a people you do not know well. Not every candidate will have the same ability to see the implications for Malta in each new piece of legislation, and more importantly, the ability to turn them into opportunities for Malta.
8. We live in uncertain times. Our economies are under heavy strain and our current usage of this planet’s resources is no longer considered sustainable. The next five years are likely to see bold action in the EP and elsewhere addressing these challenges. Maltese MEPs capable of getting down to the nitty-gritty of things can ensure that the solutions chosen match our particular needs. If new burdens are introduced it will be partly up to our MEPs to reduce them or seek support or compensation.
9. They will be considered the MEPs representing us, the Maltese people, whether we vote for them or not. We owe it to ourselves and we owe it to Europe to send people who can represent us with dignity and with energy. They will be charged to fight our corner but also to contribute to the construction of Europe. We might have joined the project late in the day but we have the same opportunity to forge its future with our own ideas and initiatives. Is it not time for us to make our mark? Surely, whether and how we do so will depend on the calibre of whom we choose to represent us.
10. Finally, it will make a difference whether or not we vote because if we do not there will be no one to voice the concerns and air the disgruntlement that might be tempting us to abstain. There will be no one to voice our aspirations and our vision of where we want more Europe and where we might want less. It makes a difference because if we do not vote our interests will be defended by precisely nobody.
Dr Vassallo is head of the European Parliament representation in Malta
Astrid Vella
Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ajhar
As our MEPs fight it out at the polls, many of their voters feel that their work at a European level has little relevance to our lives if local politicians are unable or unwilling to have Malta conform to European standards on a number of basic and very important issues that are crucial to the well-being of the citizens of the Maltese islands, such as pollution and water as well as clean and affordable energy. The latest data on air pollution shows that Malta is in breach of EU regulations and the situation on certain pollutants is deteriorating instead of improving. Studies have shown that much of this is traffic-related and yet calls for decisive action to clamp down on offenders have for years gone unheeded, while the population continues to inhale toxic emissions which contribute to our high levels of asthma, heart disease and cancer.
As regards noise pollution, if we can’t even regulate noise abatement in the construction site regulations, how can we expect to dictate such matters to our European counterparts.
Management plans are still missing in a number of important sectors, notably water, where Malta ranked no 172 in a UN rating of water resources in 180 countries. Even countries bordering the Sahara have been more successful in water conservation than Malta, where we dispose of treated sewage and storm water to into the sea. Abusive borehole pumping has been rampant for years, with the result that the aquifer has been depleted and. in certain areas, polluted.
In spite of Malta’s much-publicised lead in climate change years ago, we have wasted years before beginning to tackle the matter, which is still not being handled in a holistic manner by ensuring energy stability and security through the tapping of a number of different sources of alternative energy. What’s more, we are being presented with a series of energy-related reports which are not only late in their preparation but also sometimes conflicting (MRA Energy Policy, CCC Strategy, MRRA Wind Farm reports, Enemalta Power Station contract).
Similarly, EU Minimum Energy Efficiency Regulations which became law in January 2007 are still not being enforced, condemning future generations to unsustainable buildings as well as more energy and water problems.
Environment NGOs have repeatedly raised the issue of the damaging revision of the Environment Impact Assessment local regulations which allow the approval of large and potentially damaging projects in Malta. This reflects the fact that all governments for the last fifty years have viewed the building industry as a main economic driver and the protection of developers’ interests has always come before that of residents and the environment, as well as seriously damaging our tourist industry. In fact, the recent revamp of the MEPA website is yet again tailored to suit developers and not the public.
The EU is beginning to tackle issues of over-development and even locally it has been recognised that by continuing to increase the supply of residential properties on our small overbuilt island, we are inevitably damaging the natural environment, tourism and the very same property industry. Still both of the large parties have failed to commit themselves to anything on issues of over-development, stating that they will rely on MEPA guidelines which have proven to be extremely weak up to now.
Much of the problem boils down to the funding of the political parties which are bankrolled by the large developers. This is another issue which our MEPs should press their respective parties to conform to EU political party regulation, making full declaration mandatory over €500 and no donations allowed over €12,000. Until full accountability and transparency is established in party funding, the issue of over-development will remain unresolved, with the attendant deterioration in the quality of life of the Maltese population.
Astrid Vella is a spokesperson for Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Download front page in pdf file format
All the interviews from Reporter on MaltaToday's YouTube channel.
1. There is no doubt that all the candidates do not share the same policies and qualities. Staying home means that your neighbour gets to choose what policies and qualities your representatives will have.
The latest data on air pollution shows that Malta is in breach of EU regulations and the situation on certain pollutants is deteriorating instead of improving. Studies have shown that much of this is traffic-related and yet calls for decisive action to clamp down on offenders have for years gone unheeded, while the population continues to inhale toxic emissions which contribute to our high levels of asthma, heart disease and cancer.
