Today, our country is in a situation whereby strong bullies prevail. This has brought about a strong element of arrogance and favouritism, which has killed the concepts of equality.
Our society is controlled by developers of the Malta Developers Association, lobby groups such as the FKNK, certain corrupt businessmen and those PL + PN politicians, who are controlled by them.
Honest Maltese citizens and residents want a more beautiful and better environment, a just social system, clean governance and full accountability.
Arnold Cassola in the European Parliament will work hard for legislation and resources to push forward four issues of crucial importance for the future of our country.
As a country, we deserve better.
Our natural environment is what gives us life. The greed that has gripped a section of the population has led us to pollute our air, destroy the countryside and land we walk on and cloud the water we drink from. It is our duty to act as custodians of nature, even on behalf of future Maltese generations, since the sustainable environment we are entitled to is also a guarantee for a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle.
Apart from a two‑year moratorium on permits for high rises, there should be a decrease in the construction industry working hours (8 a.m.‑ 5 p.m.) in order to benefit the mental health of residents and workers’ safety. The enforcement of the rule that there should be no building works on Sundays and feast days should be effectively implemented.
The natural beauty of our country, open public spaces and our historic buildings are continuously being lost. They are being buried and hidden under monsters of 20‑30 floors, which are being built without an overall national plan, without any sustainable criteria and without any serious geological studies being undertaken beforehand. Jewels like Valletta and Ġgantija are at risk of losing their present status of world heritage sites. We are duty bound to preserve our cultural heritage for future Maltese generations, and for humanity as a whole.
I will therefore work not only for us to make the best use of European funds available for cultural purposes, but also to enforce a two‑year moratorium on high‑rises, in order for us to reflect on the mistakes of the past and to plan wisely for the future.
Biodiversity in the sea around us has long been eradicated due to aggressive fishing methods, which do not respect the natural life cycle of marine flora and fauna. Strict enforcement needs to be put in place to limit fishing in the waters around us to traditional methods, giving biodiversity a chance to recover from the present situation. This aim can be attained also through the European Fisheries Fund (EFF), which is a fund intended to help fishermen financially in order for them to adapt to the changes in conditions of the sector whilst employing methods that are ecologically sustainable.
The public domain law should no longer be a "dead letter", which is not worth the paper on which it is written. Every public corner of the Maltese coast must remain accessible to the public, always and everywhere.
With regards to public beach concessions, I will work to ensure that Malta follows the policies of the European Union so that beach concessions are subjected to an impartial and transparent selection procedure. There are too many areas of our public coast that have ended up in the hands of the usual bażuzli. I therefore pledge to address this issue at European level.
The ecological transition that the industrialized world is going through has hardly touched Malta. Our country needs to immediately adopt a serious environmental policy that favours research and investment in the fields of renewable energy, such as sun, wind, wave, hydrogen sources and geothermal energy.
The process to set up offshore wind farms and solar farms must be stepped up. To this aim, Malta must intensify its access to European aid programmes, such as Horizon Europe Cluster 5, which provides funds for research and innovation in the field of offshore windfarms and the generation of clean energy from the sea.
I will work to facilitate the setting up of Renewable Energy cooperatives and community energy sharing projects, as in the case of solar panels feeding private households.
I propose a clear roadmap on the use of plastic, as part of Malta’s contribution to the European effort towards decarbonization. Single use plastic should be banned and a project for the phasing out of plastic packaging in supermarkets should be embarked upon, following discussions with producers, importers and sellers. No single use products should be available in restaurants or fast food outlets. At the same time, I will work at European Parliament level towards the setting up of a system that limits food wastage, as well as strengthening legislation to reduce packaging waste.
It is laudable that measures are taken for the decarbonisation of industry. However, we must be conscious of the particular situation of our country, especially as regards certain means of transport. In the field of air transport, the possibility of free movement and affordable means of air travel for islands surrounded by the sea and far from the mainland should be maintained. Whilst a carbon tax on airline fuel definitely contributes to decarbonization, this airline tax should be limited to the use of private planes. Scheduled commercial flights should be exempt from such tax, at least for the foreseeable future.
The shifting of waste collection responsibilities from Local Councils to Regions has been a failure. Malta does not have any real culturally or socially homogeneous regions, apart from Gozo. Responsibility for waste collection should be returned to Local Councils. With regards to EU funding in this area, I will argue for flexibility on the use of EU funding, in order to allow for European Regional funds to be utilised at Council level in the case of waste collection.
For free public transport to perform the necessary function of drastically reducing the number of private cars on the road, it is necessary to double the number of buses, running on electricity, which would collectively operate at least 20 hours a day and which leave the main terminus every five minutes during rush hours. Only in this way can we ensure a functioning, regular and punctual public transport.
There should be an obligatory public consultation on big projects, with budgets of at least €1 million, financed by EU funds BEFORE money is committed for these projects.
The public pathways of our country are an important heritage and give access to the open countryside to thousands of Maltese and Gozitans. These paths shall be protected by having them mapped out by a competent Authority to ensure their continued free access.
The positive development of the introduction of a fast ferry service should be continued by exploring the possibility of a service from Gozo to Xemxija ‑ Sliema ‑ Valletta, with connections to Smart City ‑ Xgħajra ‑ Marsascala ‑ Marsaxlokk and back.
We should stop the farce of a fake non‑functional semi‑autonomous region. Gozo should become a real European region, with a regional council directly elected by its residents, in order to better benefit from European regional funds.
The devastation that is taking place in Gozo, through a rampant building spree without any intelligent planning must stop immediately. We must nurture the natural heritage and beauty of Gozo not only for aesthetic reasons, but also because this is the pivot around which the island's economy revolves.
Malta deserves a fundamental direction towards clean politics for a just and sustainable future. While acknowledging that political integrity forms the strong basis on which real democracy works, paramount importance must be given to transparency, accountability and ethical behaviour in all spheres of governance. We must build a political culture that is genuinely at the service of people and at the same time strives towards environmental sustainability and strong democratic foundations. To attain this, we must nurture a culture that reins in corruption and promotes an open and transparent way of governance.
Institutions safeguarding good governance in the country, in particular the Office of the Auditor General and the Ombudsman, should be strengthened. As an MEP, I will work to ensure that the new procedures introduced in the public service, through which most of the recruitment in the service has been centralized around the Office of the Prime Minister, with serious suspicions of political interference in appointments, will be removed.
Between words and deeds there exists a big gap. The European Union must actually practice what it preaches, and must strive much more to increase the trust of the Maltese in it. The EU must act fairly with Malta: recognise the realities and specificities of a small island nation, and therefore that the “one size fits all” approach is not workable for all. At the same time, the EU must act in a just manner when Maltese politicians act irresponsibly, and this in order to protect the citizens and to guarantee all basic democratic rights to the Maltese.
As an MEP, I would work towards the establishment of more Parliamentary Commttees ad hoc in the Maltese parliament, on the model of those in the European Parliament, so that national scandals that come up every so often, like that of disability certificates, are duly investigated.
As an MEP, I will put pressure at European level so that the Maltese government amends existing laws and introduces measures to redefine in a wider sense the concept of “juridical interest” so that it will be easier for individuals and NGOs to have access to court in order to put up legal challenges to actions by government and public authorities.
Over the years, the Anti‑Corruption Commission has been shown to be a toothless instrument in the fight against corruption. At the same time, the facts of recent years show how corruption is a scourge that has gripped the country. Therefore, as an MEP, I will work to ensure that the Commissioner is equipped with adequate structures in order to be able to work incisively and vigorously.
The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life is supposed to hold the country’s elected politicians accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, because of the one‑year prescriptive period included in the law, the Commissioner can hardly act. As an MEP, I will put pressure, even in European fora, to bring about the removal of all prescriptions regarding the conduct of public officials.
In order to enhance transparency, in my function as MEP I will endeavor to ensure that any magisterial inquiry should be published as a normal part of the procedure of such inquiries. At the same time, the rights of all parties involved in the inquiry should be safeguarded.
As an MEP, I will work to ensure that all dubious and shady government contracts or agreements that emanate a strong shadow of abuse and corruption (such as the many signed under the tenure of former Labour Minister Konrad Mizzi) are not kept secret and are to be published, without any redactions, and duly investigated.
The Planning Authority has lost all credibility with the citizens of the country and is being seen as a tool against the environment and in favour of developers and speculators. We need a fundamental change whereby the members of the Authority are real experts, who are totally independent from the construction industry and free from any possible conflict of interest. The Authority has to be refounded in order to really get it back to what it should be, an important tool that protects the limited land resources we have in our country.
Now that Malta has been obliged to raise corporate taxation on the profits of foreign countries to a minimum of 15%, as an MEP I would propose a gradual increase of 3% per year (for 5 years) corporate taxation on profits for foreign companies, to reach 20%. This should be accompanied by a gradual yearly (for 5 years) decrease of 3% tax on corporate profits for Maltese companies, in order to reach a final 20% for all companies, irrespective of nationality, thus creating a level playing field for all.
While the macroeconomic aspect should always be kept in mind in economic planning, the central aspect should be focused on the basic requirements of the normal resident struggling to make ends meet. Our economic model should be oriented towards the needs of citizens and residents. I will work towards a vision of a just and compassionate society that acknowledges that social equality is closely linked to environmental sustainability.
The continuously rising cost of living is having an enormous impact on European and Maltese citizens, pushing more of them towards the poverty level. To keep prices stable, the EU should seriously embark on Collective Procurement, on the covid vaccine and gas buying model, when it comes to basic daily life necessities, such as grain, basic food necessities and medicines.
A sacred principle. Women should be paid the same as men for the same work. And all humans should be paid the same for the same work. But, these nice words and ideas apart, in Malta, we are full of secretaries, care workers, security guards etc. who are paid less if they are in the employ of agencies or private companies, though working shoulder to shoulder with state employees who are paid more for doing the same work. As an MEP, I would work to redress these inequalities.
The current minimum wage is not enough for a single person to live a decent life, let alone for a family. A national minimum basic wage should be drawn up which allows for a dignified living for each person.
As an MEP, I will work towards a minimum wage in Malta that will be above the Purchasing Power Parities Standards (PPPS), as established in Europe.
Further financial investment in community services offered to persons with a disability is required. Human resources should allow for an expansion in community services that are needed to continue enhancing community inclusion and reducing institutionalisation. Education, health and disability services aimed at persons from a variety of impairment groups need to be based on a person centered approach and be more family oriented by being more flexible and reducing the current bureaucracy.
As an MEP, I will work to ensure that Malta puts into practice Principle 17 of the European Pillar of Social Rights, which stresses that people with disabilities have the right to income support that ensures living in dignity, services that enable them to participate in the labour market and in society, and a work environment adapted to their needs.
Pensioners deserve support and backing after a lifetime of work. Retirees are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the cost of living, if their only source of income is their pension. A subsidy on electricity, mobile, water and internet bills for pensioners would be a visible sign of support for them.
As an MEP, I will strive to ensure that laws against discrimination based on age are strengthened, at EU level, and then that these are fully implemented in member states in order to eliminate discrimination based on age as in the pensions for pensioners born before 1962 in Malta, and the contributions for mothers born before 1952, or between 1952 and 1961, in Malta.
The Covid crisis has further highlighted the need for human beings to engage in cultural and artistic activities. Funds promoting artistic/cultural activities and to help out creative people engaged in such activities should be greatly increased. This will not only help to preserve and create new jobs but also to stimulate creativity and critical analysis, which are an essential component of a pluralistic and democratic society.
As an MEP, I will promote in Malta the European programme named Culture Moves Europe, which provides mobility grants for artists and cultural professionals in all 40 creative Europe countries, and has a budget worth 21 million euros.
Whilst important progress has been registered in the field of animal welfare, the many cases of animal maltreatment that come to light prove that there is still a lot to be done in this field. Educational campaigns in schools, which start from the basic principle that animals, like humans, are sentient beings, should continue to be supported.
The European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals (ETS No. 125) and the European legislation on the welfare of farm animals, should serve as a guiding light in our country. .
We deserve a future of hope for our youth. The culture of clientelism and favouritism has created an unjust society and intolerable inequalities. This is making a number of Maltese youth lose hope in the country and leading them to migrate abroad. Malta cannot afford to lose such talent. Therefore, equal opportunities, a level playing field and meritocracy should constitute the moral compass that guides us.
Malta is the laggard of Europe as regards Research and Innovation. Unless we give a big boost to this area, the brain drain of our young minds, which has already started, will continue. I will therefore prioritise the urgent need for Malta to invest more in Research and Innovation, since our country only invests 0.6 % of its GDP on R&D, while the European average is about 3%. The setting up of a National Centre, exclusively for Research, is a must. We should strive to reach the current European average so that our youngsters will be motivated, and enabled, to continue with their work in Malta.
Maltese agricultural land is disappearing at a phenomenal rate, and is being replaced by tarmac and concrete. This destruction of agricultural land must stop. Continuous incentives must be provided both in the field of education and finance for young Maltese entrepreneurs. This is to engage them in this much needed form of livelihood. Agricultural activity not only conserves our natural landscape and environment but also provides sustainable green jobs for young entrepreneurs in Malta.
With this in mind, we must make the best use of the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), which helps the small farmer to provide secure provisions of good, healthy and affordable food. I shall work so that, through the EAGF, farmers will be able to tap those payment schemes which encourage sustainable farming and other funding for young farmers.
Farmers are the custodians of our landscape and biodiversity. Food security is of paramount importance. So, whilst noxious pesticides and fertilizers are to be rapidly phased out, subsidies for farmers to make up for the increase in expenses, resulting from the transition to safer and natural forms of agriculture, must be augmented. Citizens must be ensured a substantial and healthy home‑grown supply.
As an MEP, I shall work towards the aim of ending the discrimination whereby the social conributions paid by 16‑18 year olds are not calculated when the pension is being worked out. This is another discrimination based on age, which should be eliminated.
Investment in sports facilities and programmes should be increased in order to further strengthen a positive culture in favour of sport, not only at a competitive level, but also to promote a healthier lifestyle for all. The time in school dedicated to sport and to extra‑curricular sporting and physical activities should be increased.
Prize money for medal winners in prestigious competitions should continue increasing substantially.
When sports facilities are built, one should ensure that minimum internationally required standards are followed so that international competitions can be held in them. Building deadlines for these facilities should be strictly adhered to.
www.arnoldcassola.eu