Let's make it happen

How nice of Austin Bencini to come up for air at last. He seems to have been holding his breath in the woodwork since the last election. It would not have been the same without his last minute drop of vitriol (June 8.)

His quintessential, hardcore, partisan creativity is something I have always admired in him. He is elegant by being economic, especially with the truth. His supple, indeed elastic, logic defies accurate description. He has no need to make specific references to historical facts since he is capable of fabricating any that he needs at any given time. It is an old craft on the way out.

The non-Bencini version of recent history is as follows: being Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party we never accepted the PN's unilateral decision to go for EU membership without consulting the people. As far back as 1992 we insisted that a referendum should be held before EU accession. For six years we were the only political party demanding popular consultation on a matter of this magnitude. It was only on the eve of the 1998 election that the PN decided to approve the referendum idea while piling up its election promises. Some PN figures put their resentment on record.

Invited to participate in the MEUSAC core group, AD participated in full from the initial screening process to the very last part of the negotiations process. In the 2000 AGM the Green Party formally authorised the executive committee to follow a pro-membership policy. I am not aware that the PN grassroots were ever consulted in this way. The PN leadership was afraid of consulting its own supporters because for years nobody knew what EU membership would mean: farmers, importers, industrialists, a whole array of economic operators had no idea how they would be impacted and the PN did not want to ask them what they thought of the idea.

Had the Greens not succeeded in putting the EU referendum on the PN's 1998 electoral agenda by insisting on it for six years before that, there would have been only the 2003 election to authorise the PN government to proceed with membership. Had the MLP not received the double whammy of EU referendum and election defeats in quick succession, would its leadership have been able to persuade its masses that a U-turn was due? Would the country still be in ferment 14 months later? Could the PN have won the last election had it not been a repeat referendum and followed on a victory in the first round?

In engineering the wide civil society coalition in favour of membership, the Greens were crucial in bringing legitimacy to the PN's non-partisan project. Dr Bencini was non-partisan himself at the time. Which of the 32 coalition organisations could have gone out on a limb if it had been the PN alone asking for their support against an MLP digging its heels in? The Greens made it possible because support was given to two political parties in a national project.

The election that followed should have seen an alliance between the PN and AD. The PN refused because AD would have been able to measure the depth of its popular support for the first time in a free election. PN leadership values and principles do not stretch as far as democracy and a free expression of the will of the people. Democracy must have been too leftist for Dr Bencini. It would have freed too many political prisoners. It would have dispossessed the PN of countless coerced votes it has come to count on as its very own private property. It would not have endangered EU membership in any way.

When the Greens refused to be crushed to death in the fight to the end between PN and MLP over EU membership, the PN leadership and gurus (Dr Bencini included) were absolutely livid. Our generous vote number 2 strategy shedding votes in favour of the PN made it possible for the PN to win the election. Dr Bencini participated in full with his outrageous articles to lead voters into imagining that a No. 2 vote to the Greens was some kind of danger to the EU membership project. His arguments provoked a superbly fair rejection in print by Joe Friggieri, currently a candidate with the PN. Hats off Joe and good luck.

The Greens made the EU referendum possible. The Greens made the EU referendum victory possible. The Greens made the PN election victory possible. There has been no whisper of thanks from Dr Bencini. The current polls in favour of the Greens make it amply clear that without Green self-sacrifice the PN could very easily have lost the sliver of advantage over Labour that made EU membership possible.

What he insolently describes as a protest vote is sincere support for the Greens who represent the only possible clean break with the politics of the past: cheating-and-lying-for-a-purpose politics. Stabbing in the back those who helped you most is not solidarity. It makes decent people utterly disgusted. If they protest against it, they have every right to do so. They also know that the Greens will never take a single vote for granted. We will never speak of "our votes". We submit to the free choice of the electorate and will seek to earn their support all over again at every test.

They also have every right to protest about being taken for a ride about the economic situation. They have every reason to protest about spin-the-bottle economics passed up as economic reform. They have every reason to protest about welfare reform that is rammed down their throat just as EU membership was to be foisted upon them without consultation. They have every reason to protest about a vanishing public health system and pensions that keep one step ahead of them like a carrot on a stick. All EU citizens use the EP elections to protest about domestic politics. It is their right to do so without being insulted.

Support for the Greens is also a matter of Maltese shrewdness. It takes very little more than Dr Bencini's brains to work out that representation in more than just two political groupings in the European Parliament is an advantage not to be lost on any account. To give a third seat in the EP to the PN to bolster Lawrence Gonzi's government would be the ultimate partisan extravagance. Making sure that Arnold Cassola is elected is a top priority.

Dr Gonzi will be firmly glued to his seat in the Maltese Parliament until the next elections. His government enjoys an outsize majority and nothing is going to change that for the next four years. It would be more than just unwise to forfeit the chance to gain representation in the Green Group in the EP just to wave a flag in support of Dr Gonzi. A presence in a third political grouping in the EP for the next five years is no joke at all. Malta must absolutely make the most of the five MEPs it is entitled to. Only Arnold Cassola offers the chance for Malta to gain such representation and leverage in the crucial contested votes. It is a fact not even Dr Bencini can deny.

When the PPE (PN) and PSE (MLP) cancel each other out, it is the Greens and other groups than swing the vote. Malta's only realistic hope of being represented in a third political grouping lies in electing Arnold Cassola to the European Parliament. If Dr Bencini had a fraction of common sense and generosity he would encourage every PN voter to vote No. 1 Arnold Cassola. If the Greens' bid does not succeed the vote would pass on to the PN which would gain three seats. If Prof. Cassola is elected, who loses?

It is an utter stupidity to squander one's vote in ensuring that one or the other of the PN and MLP gains a majority of the coming vote. It is a major irrelevance to the issues at stake. It will not make an iota of difference to the exercise of power in Malta. Nothing will change either way. It will not make the least blamed bit of difference which, if any, of the PN and MLP gains a third seat. It will make all the difference to Malta to gain leverage in a third political grouping in a parliament where majorities are a moving target formed ad hoc on issues as they arise between a multiplicity of political groupings none of which can claim to be anything more than a large minority.

What we should all be doing is ensuring that we send to the European Parliament the best and most capable persons to represent us. Arnold Cassola qualifies fully. He passes all the PN tests with flying colours: he is consistent, capable and utterly credible. He is the only candidate who can claim any real experience in the workings of the EP.

His four-year stint as secretary general of the European Federation of Green Parties leaves him standing significantly taller than any other candidate in this election. The best of the rest can claim academic or Malta-based knowledge of the EU reality. In 20 months his last term as secretary general of the EFGP (now the European Green Party) will expire. He is not eligible for re-election.

Dr Bencini is determined to make sure we will not be able to exploit Prof. Cassola's hands on experience, his contacts in 32 European nations, his contacts within EU institutions, his established profile as a European politician. Why? For the PN to have a third MEP, to have more of the same, to comfort Dr Gonzi's outsize government?

In a few days' time we will know the result. God willing Dr Bencini will be disappointed and Malta will have made a historical step forward. If Prof. Cassola is elected nobody loses, everybody wins. It will be an exceptional election result, a joy for us all except for Dr Bencini. With no government at stake, it is just within Malta's grasp. Let's make it happen.

Dr Vassallo is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party.

www.arnoldcassola.com

harry.vassallo@alternattiva.org.mt