[WATCH] Arnold Cassola: ‘We should not become numb towards wrongdoing’

Arnold Cassola is a veteran politician, having first put his name on the ballot sheet in the 1992 general election as a candidate for Alternattiva Demokratika. 

Five years ago, he parted ways with the party he helped found and has since been on a solo mission as an independent candidate. On 8 June, his name will be on the ballot for the European Parliament election. 

Despite failing to get elected all this time, Cassola insists his seven-year stint as secretary general of the European Greens and his continued political activism over the years have given him a lot of experience. 

“I have a track record of 35 years in politics… people can judge me on what I did and not just on what I say unlike the younger candidates, who because of their young age, can only say what they will do,” he tells me as we sit down in the garden of his house in Swieqi. 

Cassola acknowledges the disconnect that exists between Brussels and ordinary Europeans. “Brussels is too far away and there is this mythology, grounded in some truth, that people go to the European Parliament for the gravy train but what happens in Brussels does have a lot of relevance; had the European Public Prosecutor’s Office not existed, Fredrick Azzopardi would not be investigated on bribery allegations in connection with the Marsa Junction project,” he says.  

He is unfazed by the label ‘traitor’ often levelled towards Maltese who shame Maltese officials in Brussels. “It’s bad nationalism,” he shoots back. 

“If I am walking in the street with my zipper down, I would expect a friend to tell me. If Malta has its zipper down it is my duty to point this out so that it could be fixed,” he says. 

“Candidates from the PN and PL speak of this mantra of pulling the same rope otherwise you are a traitor. No; excuse me, I will not defend the Maltese at all cost. Do you expect me to defend Konrad Mizzi? I will defend that which is just and good.” 

If elected, Cassola says he will sit with the Greens but will have a pre-agreement that on issues of conscience he will vote according to his beliefs. The reference is to abortion, which Cassola opposes unless it is necessary to safeguard the woman’s life and health.  

But it is not just abortion, he adds. “There could also be issues on which the Greens are absolutist such as the emissions tax on ships and which I would try to seek compromises to safeguard Malta’s particularities as a small island state.”

The following is an excerpt of the interview. 

The full interview can also be viewed on Facebook and Spotify.

European Parliament elections have traditionally always been characterised by lower turnouts. Why should people bother to go out and vote? 

Who believes that their action not to vote is a ‘no vote’ is mistaken because it is a ‘yes vote’ for the status quo. It is a ‘yes vote’ to leave the situation as it is: four Labour MEPs and two Nationalist MEPs… Malta needs to change this [duopoly] and voters must transform this into a 3-2-1 situation… the country needs to be shocked. If [Robert] Abela’s behaviour to foment antagonism, and all that is happening, does not shock voters, I do not know what will.

This election has quite a long list of independent candidates. Why should people vote for you? 

I have a track record of 35 years in politics… people can judge me on what I did and not just on what I say unlike the younger candidates, who because of their young age, can only say what they will do. 20 years ago, as part of Alternattiva, we were the only politicians backing the PN on EU membership… the politicians that have had to resign because of my petitions with the Commissioner of Standards… the issues that I have raised such as the pensions anomaly for those born before 1961, which is now being addressed…

Given Malta’s particular situation as an island economy on the periphery of the EU, doesn’t the emissions tax on shipping introduced in January as a result of an EU directive have a disproportionate impact? 

Yes, it does… I agree with the principle because we are destroying the earth…

Is it realistic to say tiny Malta is destroying the earth? 

Our emissions are destroying Malta itself. We do not have water and we are one of the most arid countries in the world… our work as MEPs should not be to oppose everything; the often-used cliché ‘not over my dead body’. We opposed the tax harmonisation and not only is it being introduced but they humiliated us at the FATF and Clyde Caruana had to go and sign off on a minimum 15% tax rate [for companies with an annual turnover of €750 million]. I have a proposal of my own. Let us introduce a minimum corporate tax of 20% instead of 15% for these large foreign companies over a five-year span but at the same time reduce the top tax rate for Maltese companies gradually to 20% from 35%. In this way after five years all companies will be paying 20%. On the emissions tax on shipping, I propose having food and medicines exempt from this tax and on the yet to be introduced tax on aviation this should be borne by private jets and not scheduled flights…

How can you achieve this? 

There are policies for disadvantaged areas. Malta is a disadvantaged area as an island… we can work for exemptions and our job is to find alliances. It is not a question of simply working together as Maltese. If a fellow Maltese MEP is going to work for a concession to have spring hunting in Malta, no way will I work for that. Candidates from the PN and PL speak of this mantra of pulling the same rope otherwise you are a traitor. No; excuse me, I will not defend the Maltese at all cost. Do you expect me to defend Konrad Mizzi? I will defend that which is just and good.

The Maltese psyche has come to expect that any Maltese person abroad should defend Malta and the Maltese. Those who don’t are often branded as traitors. I can understand your point on not defending someone like Konrad Mizzi but it also depends on the language used. 

It is bad nationalism… if the prime minister obliges all his MPs and ministers to vote against a public inquiry in the Jean Paul Sofia case, should I shut up and not criticise them in Europe simply because they are Maltese? No way… logic, common sense and justice dictate otherwise. I would not be fulfilling my duty towards my country if I allowed such behaviour to go unchecked… we should not become numb towards wrongdoing.

What do you believe will be a determining issue in the coming years? 

Security and defence… On Ukraine, we must help them financially and militarily but we should not send boots on the ground there. On Gaza and the disaster happening there, the EU is not being forceful enough to champion the Palestinians and the Israelis while condemning Hamas and Netanyahu… in Malta the Labour Party is displaying a lot of hypocrisy on the issue of defence because to attack [Roberta] Metsola it came up with this story that we will be sending our soldiers to die abroad. It is a lie. Malta has been participating in [NATO’s] Partnership for Peace since 2008 and this had been endorsed by Labour administrations; Maltese soldiers have been sent in different places abroad on UN and EU missions. Robert Abela has just sent an AFM squadron of 10 soldiers to be embedded with an Irish battalion in Lebanon on the border with Israel as part of the UN peacekeeping mission. These soldiers are risking their lives every day; let us respect them. The EU and UN missions are defence operations… our neutrality does not preclude us from participating in such operations…

The EU was born as a peace project. Doesn’t it worry you if it adopts this militarist route? 

It is not a militarist route. The fact that you are neutral does not mean you do not take care of your security… If the peace is broken, you have to defend yourself; you cannot do so with a water pistol. This is why it is an issue of defence and not offence.