We have spoken many times why it’s important to vote on June 8: that the elections to the European Parliament matter and that we need good representatives there who are able to bring the Maltese perspective to the making of EU laws.
On the other hand, here’s the reason Robert Abela wants you to vote: a nefarious ‘establishment’ is at work trying to bring down Labour politicians, their latest attempt being the report on the hospitals’ sale. To him, your vote is important to show that Labour politicians are above the law.
That’s not misrepresenting Abela’s and Labour’s position. The contents of the report are still not publicly known (not even to Abela, or so he claims) so no one can say it’s biased, or partisan, or partial, or whatever. Abela dismissed it with his very crude claim of it having been no more than “political terrorism”, based on nothing more than whom it recommends should face criminal charges.
Thankfully, Chris Fearne has declined to be Malta’s next nominee for European commissioner. Make no mistake about it: Fearne’s withdrawal was not motivated by some altruistic love of country or righteous wish for good government. Fearne made the cold calculation that he was just red meat being thrown to the lions; a way for Abela to steady his ship, out of which Fearne would get nothing but personal humiliation.
I will not speculate about what’s in the report. I’ll just remind here that a sin of omission, however less serious than sin of commission it may be, is still a sin.
Fearne’s fate was sealed not when the magistrate filed her report. It was the day he accepted to be health minister and to continue financing the fraudulent hospitals’ deal designed by Konrad Mizzi. Having served as parliamentary secretary to Mizzi, Fearne is sure to have got the measure of the man he had served under.
Five years ago, the HBO TV series Chernobyl aired for the first time. In the climax of the fifth and final episode, scientist Valery Legasov denounces the lies of the Soviet authorities. In doing so, despite being the protagonist and the hero of the series, he must admit he himself had taken part in the authorities’ cover-ups – “defending his country”, in Labour’s parlance.
“Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth,” Legasov concludes. “Sooner or later, that debt has to be paid.”
MEPs examining Fearne’s nomination wouldn’t have voted based on his past as health minister weathering the COVID pandemic; they would have voted based on the knowledge of adding more debt to the truth, to be repaid later, this time by the EU institutions. Fearne surely realised this and he followed his well-honed political instincts to cut his losses and run.
The vast majority of Maltese do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, care about their country’s greater good and try to impart these values to their children. In the European Parliament, in ‘defending Malta’, Labour MEPs will be associating this silent and honest majority with their crooked colleagues.
On June 8, use your vote to save our democracy- Peter Agius
Will foreign MEPs, having read the news, change their minds with Labour MEPs assuring them that Labour is spotlessly honest? Of course not. Then the rest of us tax-paying folks actually risk being tainted with the same brush of the tax-stealing folks.
If elected a Nationalist Party MEP, my line in Brussels will be that Malta is not Joseph Muscat. The Maltese are not schemers like Keith Schembri or Mizzi. And neither are they Fearne and Edward Scicluna, ready to close an eye, maybe two, to wrongdoing. Most of all, Malta is not Abela. Unlike their prime minister, the Maltese respect the due process of law and the independence of the judicial system. They deserve representatives in Brussels and Strasbourg who defend what they really are.
We joined Europe to shield ourselves against the abuse of power of the 1980s, to ensure our country never regresses to the dark days of tal-Barrani. It’s imperative we fulfil that European promise with tangible actions that benefit the Maltese people.
If elected to the European Parliament I am committed to deploy new methods at the political but, most importantly, at the technical level to fight corruption in Malta with renewed energy in Europe.
This can be done through closer collaboration with bodies like the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).
Europe will move when we use the right buttons to move it. I will build upon the work of Maltese MEPs, including Simon Busuttil, Roberta Metsola and David Casa, who have held high the governance flag for Malta and use a series of European directives at the technical level, such as those on public procurement and money laundering, to see through transparent governance in Malta.
Above all, I will actively push for sharp teeth for Europe to bite those who deserve it, through a European anti-corruption law that includes provisions on unexplained wealth. Additionally, I will push for increased technical and material support, including specialised funding for investigative journalism, to hold the government accountable and empower organisations that champion legality and European standards in our nation and not intimidate journalists like Jason Micallef did.
In the face of a government devoid of decency, the responsibility falls upon us to initiate change.
On June 8, use your vote to save our democracy. This election can start a wave of change, let’s give it a helping hand.
Peter Agius is Nationalist Party MEP candidate.