AD argues that wider representation is better

Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday appealed to voters to choose the best five candidates to represent them in the European Parliament and not to allow party politics to determine their choice.

AD chairman Harry Vassallo also called on the electorate to ensure that Malta was represented in the three political groups, rather than just two.

"As EP president Pat Cox said during his visit to Malta, even the largest party in the EP is a minority. In doing so, he has demolished the Nationalist Party's claim that size matters in the EP," Arnold Cassola, AD's candidate for Saturday's MEP elections, said.

"Not even the largest minority can go ahead without the support of other parties," he added.

"It is clear that in a parliament of minorities, it is important for Malta to gain a voice in more than two groups. When a consensus is not reached, the votes of the European People's Party and the votes of the Socialists tend to cancel each other out. In these cases the votes of the Greens and the Liberals tend to be decisive."

Dr Vassallo said that if Prof. Cassola was not elected, Malta would simply lose its chance to influence an extra 50 MEPs.

Both Dr Vassallo and Prof. Cassola said there had been a campaign of misinformation to purposely instil doubts in people's minds on the transferability of votes.

"I was asked by some people whether their vote was invalid if they first voted AD and then switched to PN," Prof. Cassola said.

Dr Vassallo explained that in these MEP elections cross-party voting made a lot of sense especially since voters were not being asked which party they wanted in government in their country.

He also pointed out that during this campaign AD ensured that it remained calm, presented solid arguments and respected its adversaries.

Prof. Cassola praised Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, the Siggiewi Action Group for our Environment (SAGE) and Friends of the Earth, among others, for fighting towards a common cause on Mnajdra.

"This is a victory for society and those who worked so hard against the proposal. We also welcome the government's decision for working to tackle the problem of waste management," he said.

Referring to a recent PN advert on the environment, Prof. Cassola said this was misleading because it led the public to believe that the EPP was decisive on environmental matters.

"Although it is positive that the EPP is slowly converting to Green ideas like the polluter-pays-principle, it still has a dismal environmental record," he said.

"In fact statistics published by Friends of the Earth (Europe) demonstrates that while the Greens have voted in an environmentally friendly way in 99 per cent of the cases, the EPP has done so in just 26 per cent.

"The EPP also has an appalling record of voting on measures favouring recycling," he added.

Prof. Cassola expressed his full agreement with the advice given by Mr Cox to future Maltese MEPs. "While supporting matters directly related to Malta in the EP we also cannot afford to be parochial. We are both Maltese and European," he said.

"In moments of need I always found support from Green MEPs on matters relating directly to Malta. As an MEP, I will utilise the contacts I have built over the past years as general secretary of the European Greens to ensure that I will find enough support when decisions directly affecting Malta are being discussed," he said.

Asked if AD was confident of electing its candidate to the EP, Dr Vassallo said that people's feedback had been extremely encouraging and led them to believe this time would be different.