MEP candidates discuss Gozo's future within EU

MEP candidates met to explore Gozo’s position within the European Union during a debate last week at the Gozitano Co-Operative Complex.

Moderated by GUG's Ryan Mercieca, a European Parliament Information Office (EPIO) was held in conjunction with the Gozo NGO Association and gave MEP candidates the opportunity to make recommendations about the island’s future in an EU context, with particular attention to the issue of regionality.

MEP candidates Lino Bianco, Kevin Cutajar, Cyrus Engerer, Stefano Mallia, Carmel Cacopardo, Alfred Sant, Norman Lowell and Roberta Metsola were present.

Introducing the discussion Peter Agius, Head of the European Parliament Office in Malta, said that this was the fifth Gozo event held by the European Parliament Office in the last year and that "for the European Parliament Office, Gozo is already a region as it has its own specific issues and needs".

MEP candidate Lino Bianco, who maintains a private practice on Gozo, said that there had been enough talk on these issues during an MEP event held at Il-Ħaġar in Victoria in October 2013. In the intervening 6 months or so stakeholders could easily have moved their agenda forward, he said, in a concrete manner rather than have yet another round of discussions and debates on essentially the same issues.

Alfred Sant argued that the Gozitan situation is very clear; the island has fallen back vis a vis Malta and other island regions across the EU. This decline has to be addressed on three levels - political, institutional and then on a planning & implementation level by agreeing on the necessary regional structures.

Gozo, Sant said, is a "micro micro region", which had its agriculture sector in decline, its artisan sector in decline and its tourism sector "barely just afloat". National regulations do not fit the Gozitan context maintained Sant, and he strongly advocated a holistic plan to "change the scenario from Gozo, not Valletta".

Stefano Mallia said he supported the idea of one MEP seat reserved for Gozo, saying “I say this in view of Gozo’s particular economic and social dimension that needs to be acknowledged and catered for.” Mallia said that if one seat is specifically allocated to Gozo, the country would be sending a powerful political message to the people of Gozo as well as to Europe itself.

“Gozo is a region in its own right that has circumstances that need to be addressed specifically with specific actions,” he said. He said a vision for Gozo must be developed to give the sister island’s a clear specific direction for the next five years. “This is especially important for the young people of Gozo who today don’t know in which direction the island is going,” Mallia said.

Cyrus Engerer maintained that Gozo had been declining because Malta uses a "one size fits all" approach, and stood behind the implementation of a regional office for Gozo in Brussels, part of the PL's electoral pledge.

He also said that a lack of accurate statistical information made it virtually impossible for the European Commission to assess Gozo's needs. "All elected Maltese MEP's should be Gozo's voice at the European Parliament," concluded Engerer.

Carmel Cacopardo said that the regionalisation of the Maltese Islands was the key issue to attract more EU funds and not just Gozo. Malta had a disparity with the rest of the EU and it was only necessary to look at the inner harbour region to appreciate the extent of this disparity.

Cacopardo argued that Gozo could use the last 25 years as a pilot project and that more autonomy could easily flow to the 5 regions of the Maltese Islands by devolving key areas from central government to local council clusters.

Roberta Metsola said that she visited Gozo every 10 days since being elected as an MEP and that Gozo's double-insularity meant that Gozo-centric issues needed to be examined carefully to get better conditions for Gozo and the people who live on the island.

She suggested that more funds are required for Gozo and said that having lower tax rates in the shoulder months might help the Gozitan economy.  "Gozo needs more than nice words,” she said.  “We can all work harder on this. We have to listen to Gozitans where we have not done before."