Cyrus Engerer launches EP election campaign

Former Nationalist deputy mayor for Sliema, Cyrus Engerer, has launched his campaign 'Malta L-Ewwel' (Malta First) for the European Parliament elections, which is due to take place next May.

Engerer, who will be contesting the elections on behalf of the Labour party, explained that his campaign was called 'Malta L-Ewwel' because, according to him, the role of a good MEP was to make sure that, first and foremost, Malta's issues were addressed at the European Parliament, and not the other way around.

"A good MEP should don the Maltese cap at all times," he said at a press conference held at the Haywharf Clubhouse this morning.

"The role of an MEP is not to simply accept resolutions and legislation coming from Europe's top dogs, but to make sure that Malta's own issues are addressed," he said.

Engerer said that the fact that Malta only had six seats in the European Parliament was not necessarily a drawback, claiming that it was all a question of how effective the MEPs were.

He said that despite the low presence of Maltese MEPs, Malta could still be leaders on a European level.

"I do not go along with the reasoning that Malta is disadvantaged due to its size," he said, citing Joseph Muscat's record as an MEP as an example.

"It all depends on how effective the MEPs are. Personally, I believe that Malta could be leaders in Europe," he said.

Engerer, who said that his campaign was going to be one which truly listened to the people's concerns, said that he was not afraid of taking decisions, even if it was not always the easy route.

He said that his campaign would focus on any issue that was of interest to Malta and Gozo, but said that he would be giving particular attention to Malta's low cross-border trade, whilst also promising to lobby for a better distribution of funds from Europe.