An appeal to you

Next week we will all be called upon to choose those six people who we collectively believe will represent us best in the European Parliament. Most of us will go out and vote.

The reason behind each choice will vary. We will vote for one candidate or another for reasons which range from the very personal to reasons which are based on the common good. Whatever the reason for each choice made, the first and most important thing is that we do make the choice and that we don’t leave that choice to others by not going to vote. I for one will surely be making my own choices.

My first appeal to you is to vote. A choice made for you by others can never be the right choice.

It is vital that we choose six candidates who we know will be fully dedicated to the job. As we all know, Malta has just six seats from a total of 766. We cannot afford to have any of those seats wasted. We cannot afford to have elected MEPs who are not driven by a burning desire to work hard for the benefit of our country. Being an MEP should be a full time job. Being a very effective MEP is a full time job and a half.

Through my experience with the European Institutions over the past years, I have worked first hand with the European Parliament and I am fully aware of the difficulties of the job, difficulties which very few realise from a distance. Of course the more cynical of us will say that the main driver for each candidate are the perks that come with the job but frankly this is not an assessment that interests me at all.

I am driven by my desire to serve my country and by my even stronger desire to have a positive impact on people’s lives. I am driven by the strong belief that Malta’s place is firmly in Europe and if we are to continue making a success of membership, then we need to be effective within those European Institutions that take the decisions that impact our daily lives.

This is why I have put myself on the front line of politics.

Therefore my second appeal to you is choose those candidates who you feel are driven by the desire to serve their country and nothing else.

We also need to choose those candidates who we feel are able to stand up and be counted within the European Parliament. The European Parliament is not a place where one delivers rowdy speeches laced with local politics. Such an approach will get us nowhere. You achieve success within the European Parliament by building credibility through technical arguments. You achieve success by building relationships, especially with those who might be coming from a different political group.

Of course having a political nose is also very important however shallow arguments will just not get you there. I’ve learnt and lived all this through my experience within the European Economic and Social Committee where I am now vice-president of the Employers’ Group.

The next five years will not be easy. As a country we continue to face tremendous pressures from a number of Member States such as Germany and France, who want to remove our tax advantages. We continue to face pressure from countries such as Italy, France and Spain who want to wipe out our on-line gaming industry. We continue to face pressures on our manufacturing industry from outside Europe. It will be up to our MEPs to work tirelessly to ensure that we don’t lose anything of what we have and that we protect our interests to the full.

This will not be an easy task, hence why whoever we choose as our MEPs must be capable of standing up to our larger neighbours, they must be capable of rebutting technical arguments with other technical arguments and they must be capable of saying ‘no’ when ‘no’ is best for Malta.  They must be capable of seeking alliances in the most unlikely of places.

Therefore, my third appeal to you is to choose those candidates who you feel are the most technically prepared to protect Malta’s interest. They may not necessarily be the most popular characters but this election is not a popularity contest.

My fourth and final appeal to you is to also make your choice with an eye on the future. In a recent article, Austin Bencini made a very telling observation. He called on voters to weigh their choice well because it is very possible that the people elected this coming week are possibly our leaders of tomorrow. He very rightly cited the examples of Simon Busuttil and Joseph Muscat who started as MEPs and today are our political leaders. There are other examples such as Louis Grech and Edward Scicluna, and I am sure others will also follow in the years to come.

Over the past months many have told me that they wish to see a different kind of politics taking place in Malta. Indeed many wish to see the kind of politics that Muscat promised but has failed to deliver big time during this past year. The vote of next week is also an opportunity for you to vote for those people who you feel can bring in the brand of politics you desire.

Vote for change if change is what you desire.

It is with these thoughts in mind that I will be going to vote next week. 

Stefano Mallia is a Nationalist MEP candidate.