Arnold Cassola pitches for the political centre

Arnold Cassola is pitching for the political centre with the clearest sign yet being his address at the congress of the European Democrats, a centrist party.

Cassola attended the congress held in Brussels earlier this month and informed delegates of the progress with regards to the formation of “a new centrist party” in Malta.

He said “a growing number of people” from different political backgrounds were coming together to form a new party that focuses in particular on the social and environmental dimensions in politics.

Cassola spoke of the need for basic social protection for each European citizen to be “enhanced” and not simply safeguarded. He also argued in favour of the European Green Deal, insisting that climate change is a reality. “We must strive to secure a high quality of life for us and future generations,” he said.

Cassola said the new political formation favours a strong EU voice on the world stage. “The EU must be at par with the US, China and Russia and not subservient to them… Europe should speak with one voice in favour of dialogue for peace and stability in Europe, the Middle East and beyond,” he said.

The Party of European Democrats was founded in 2004 by former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, French centrist leader Fancois Bayrou and Italian politician Francesco Rutelli among others.

Bayrou has just been nominated by French President Emanuel Macron to serve as prime minister in the hope of finding a majority that can coalesce around the centre.

The European Democrats have 10 MEPs, who sit with the liberal Renew in the European Parliament. The pan-European party has 22 member parties from 17 countries with 107 members in national parliaments.

Cassola contested the EP election last June as an independent, obtaining almost 13,000 first-count votes and making him the third highest polling candidate after Roberta Metsola (PN) and Alex Agius Saliba (PL).

Since then, Cassola has managed to bring together various people in the hope of forming a new political party. Several meetings, called Vision Circles, have been held over the past months during which ideas were shared.

However, the budding formation broke new ground when Cassola addressed a press conference last month in Valletta surrounded by a group of people unknown in political circles. Cassola had called for the removal of then tourism minister Clayton Bartolo and Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri after a Standards Commissioner report found they abused their power when granting the former’s then girlfriend a consultancy job. The ethics investigation had been requested by Cassola.

Last month, Cassola told MaltaToday he was “simply a catalyst to help people who want change to discuss their ideas and come together around a common platform”.

“In the coming months, together with my colleagues, we will be explaining the direction we will be taking and inviting more persons to join us,” he had said.