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MALTATODAY 19 May 2019

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35 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 MAY 2019 EUROPE 2019 THIS IS A SPONSORED FEATURE Alfred Sant 'MEPs must ensure EU policies do not end up as one-size- fits-all exercises' Active in political, economic, social and cultural affairs at the European Parliament and Malta. As head of the Labour Party delegation within the Socialists and Democrats grouping in the EP, Sant made submissions regarding the PL's stand on ongoing issues. Within the budget commitee of the EP of which he is also a member, Sant followed matters relating to Malta's access to EU funds as an island at the EU's periphery, following this up with initiatives and projects organised within a parliamentary integroup on islands in the EU. Then, there were the special committees that the EP set up to follow on taxation policies within the Union. As a member of these special committees, Sant focussed on monitoring how ideas were shaping up, given that they tied into committee narratives that pressed for tax harmonisation within the EU, an approach that could be toxic for a small island member state like Malta. Sant writes weekly articles and updates for the print and soft media (totalling over half a million words) to cover EU affairs since he believes that it is vitally important for Maltese citizens to have a feel for what is happening in the EU that could affect them. His office publishes regular newsletters and runs a fortnightly TV magazine programme on EU issues. Sant published two books of explanatory material on developments in the eurozone. Every year we held discussion meetings open to all on developments in the EU, two in Malta, one in Gozo. On another level, Sant published two collections of short stories in Maltese plus one of plays, and wrote "Balzunetta Towers" a cabaret cum satirical show, that was performed in the summer of 2017. Name Alfred Sant Party Partit Laburista Age 71 Contact 21395742, email: alfred.sant@gov.mt Maltese MEPs need to focus on matters that relate to Maltese interests, such as EU funding for Malta but beyond that too, matters re- lated to project financing for farmers, SMEs and artisanal initiatives; Gozo; immigra- tion; anti-terrorist action; eurozone and taxation is- sues; fisheries; hunting and trapping; culture, education and the arts; energy; en- vironment; security chal- lenges. In all these contexts, ma- jor aims would be to ensure that as much as possible, EU policies especially for the single market, do not end up as one-size-fits-all exercises, and that initiatives meant to encourage federalism within the eurozone and the wider EU framework are subject to wide-ranging discussion and are not rushed through. EU funding for Malta Ensure that past balances between contributions and receipts on a national ba- sis are respected within the parameters of Malta's vastly improved economic and fi- nancial situation; make sure that EU funding is flexibly earmarked for concrete objec- tives directly related to Malta's state of development while allowing for the need to shift between social and economic aims according to how the situation in Malta and Europe develops; Financing for farmers, SMEs and artisanal activities Carry out ongoing follow-up on EU policies that cover the consolidation of financing op- portunities in these sectors es- pecially with reference to the situation in small, peripheral islands and border regions; Gozo Insist on Gozo's regional character and the need for it to be extended special consid- eration under the application of EU rules with reference to connectivity, agricultural, industrial, artisanal, cultural, digital, educational and health issues; create public relations opportunities for Gozo to be identified as an island with its own identity and help in all relevant ways to promote projects jointly with other island regions that would ben- efit from separate EU funding; Anti-terrorist action Support all forms of reason- able cooperation between European security forces to control all potential terror- ism initiatives; contribute to and support all proposals to enhance Maltese participation in and contribution to anti- terrorism safeguards, in full respect of Malta's sovereignty and status of neutrality; Eurozone and taxation issues Support moves towards the continuation of the banking union while insisting that smaller banks in peripheral member states should be al- lowed to follow the practice they have followed and devel- oped in past decades, while taking care not to burden them with excessive controls that make sense for the large banking firms in Europe like Deutsche Bank but increase unbearably the administrative overload of smaller banks like BOV; resist with all means and as red lines, all proposals that tend towards the intro- duction of tax harmonisation, while supporting initiatives that emphasise transparency in all tax matters; Fisheries Support moves that priori- tise the needs of traditional fishermen as contrasted to the interests of the big com- mercial fishing fleets; support conservation policies for fish stocks but while ensuring that the livelihood of traditional fishermen and their families is protected; Hunting and trapping Ensure that while EU legality is respected, the rights and interests of hunters and trap- pers, limited though they have become with Malta's acces- sion to the EU, are not further constrained; Culture, education and arts Endeavour to promote the work of Maltese artists in Europe and beyond; support educational and professional training programmes in the arts and sciences; Energy Support EU measures that seek to bring into effect, in line with international agree- ments at the UN level, envi- ronmental curbs on develop- ment and operational projects in energy production; endorse proposals that promote energy research and produc- tion in renewable sources of energy; take part in initiatives to promote sustainable fi- nance covering environment- friendly projects that converge towards climate change and other EU wide environmental goals; Environment Support all measures that are compatible with EU rules, especially on climate change, so long as they are also com- patible with the potential and resources for Malta to meet them in the specified time frames (there are huge prob- lems in this regard); Security challenges Support security cooperation and common border controls across Europe; show disagree- Do you agree with the creation of an EU army? No Should corporate taxation be harmonised across the European Union? No Should children of refugees born on Maltese soil be entitled to Maltese citizenship? Yes Should MEPs have the power to veto decisions taken by the European Council? No Should Malta stop selling citizenship, which is also EU citizenship, under the IIP? No Should Turkey be a member of the EU? Yes Should border controls be re-introduced in Schengen countries? No Do you agree with a 'Mare Nostrum' style European rescue mission in the Mediterranean financed by the EU budget? No Quick-fire Q&A ment with further develop- ment of military and defence policies in Europe that is incompatible with Maltese neutrality while not seeking to block such development between Member States which believe in it.

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