Greens: party leaders Muscat and Busuttil ‘champions of status quo’

Alternattiva Demokratika has taken both Labour and Nationalist Party leaders to task for being unable to take principled positions on spring hunting and civil unions.

AD secretary-general Ralph Cassar said both Labour and the PN were pandering to lobby groups in a bid not to take credible stances on political issues.

But he also accused Simon Busuttil of turning the European elections into “an issue-free beauty contest” between the two main parties.

“In reality there is not much choice between the old-style politics both parties espouse. A vote for both of them will just mean a vote for the stale status quo. Those who want real change will vote Green.

“It is clear that the Nationalist Party prefers sitting on the fence and is copying Joseph Muscat in sitting on the fence. With divorce the party took a ‘no’ stance and then had a sizeable number of its MPs voting in favour. With the spring hunting referendum the party is still pandering to hunters. On civil unions it kept mum until the last moment and then did not have the courage to take a clear cut position in parliament, but instead lashed out at the Church, whom Simon Busuttil seemingly expects to do the party’s work.”

Cassar also asked whether Busuttil was also against the decriminalization of drugs, which AD supports.

“Probably the PN will take a decision at the last moment. This kind of party does not deserve support in the forthcoming European Parliament elections. It is copying Muscat’s wait-and-see politics. Only AD is credible on issues ranging from the destruction of the environment, to a more humane stance in social policies.”

“Why is the PN not taking a stand?” AD spokesperson for social policy Robert Callus said. “Maybe because they ideologically agree with criminalizing drug users but are also aware that due to this a substantial amount of their voters are labelled criminals? Why this reluctance to change our draconian laws, which have shown time after time that Malta’s ‘war on drugs’ is a miserable failure?

“Skeptics of decriminalization should only read the success story of Portugal where not only didn’t drug use increase significantly since decriminalizing all drugs in 2001 but has seen a significantly lower rates of drug related crime and disease. Decriminalization of personal use is a win-win situation for literally everyone.”