Yes, I will vote in the European election

If you want to decide for yourself whom to send to the European Parliament to represent you then cast your ballot on the 24 May. Otherwise, if you abstain, others will decide for you. Choose the candidate who you think is the most suitable to represent you and your country. We all claim to want the best for our country. This is an opportunity to execute that claim.

In Malta, as in most other European Union countries, less people vote in European elections than in the national ones. The reasons why Maltese voters decide not to vote are many.

Some habitually stay away from the polling booths. Others do so in protest as they have every right to do. Then there are those who think that since the European elections will not change the government, what is the point in voting.

I want to make a case in favour of voting. The European Parliament has acquired a lot of clout in the law-making process of the EU. Most of the laws passed by the EU today become laws only after the Parliament has approved.

They cover everything from the internal market such as lower mobile and internet rates, to freedom to provide services, environmental and health standards, worker safety and international treaties. You name one area of EU activity and it is more than likely that somehow the EP has a finger in it.

So we can pretend to ourselves that the EP has nothing to do with our daily lives and that we can live without it. The facts show otherwise.
The EP also needs to be boosted as the democratic voice of Europe. People need to go out and support it so that it will gain in confidence and stand up – where necessary – to the EU governments.

We Maltese have only six MEPs – none to spare. And we have to make sure that those we send there are the best placed to represent us, that they will work relentlessly to ensure that Malta’s objectives are met and that our interests are safeguarded.

The Maltese need to send representatives who present the best side of Maltese society, who can make a good name for their country and who gain the respect of other MEPs.

Now leaving such a choice to chance or to someone else is not the correct way of approaching this issue.

There is another side to this election as well. The government has tried to turn it into a vote of confidence for its policies. It should never have done this but now that it has we have a chance to tell them exactly how we feel.

The Maltese electorate, always very mature, has punished the Nationalist Party for its mistakes. Are we to stop short of punishing Labour for its flops?
Let us be honest to ourselves. Many believed that the 2013 election was a time for change. That the Nationalist Party had come to the end of its tether, that it needed an overhaul.

They also believed in Labour and Joseph Muscat. He promised a new politics, “Malta taghna lkoll”, meritocracy, more rights, cheaper energy, more jobs and more of everything. You name it and he had a secret potion for it.

But things did not go quite like that. His first act in government was to decapitate the public service and turn it into a Labour Party service. Jobs and favours went to the inner most circle of party hacks, whether this served the common good or not.

Gone was the movement. Only a handful of well-known faces were kept around just in case someone cried foul on this matter. Hospital overcrowding continues and discrimination reared its head again.

But all bad things, like good things, must come to an end. Let us use this election to show that people want honesty. People don’t want to be talking about the government every other day. They want to get on with their lives and focus on what is important. They want to have peace of mind that their job is secure. They want to have peace of mind that they will have access to the medicines they need. They want to have peace of mind that their children will have access to a first class education. Above all, they want to live in a Malta that continues to respect the individual, irrespective of political colour.

Stefano Mallia is a Nationalist MEP candidate