Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1419860
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 OCTOBER 2021 OPINION Girls need access to devices, networks, and data to use and create digital content. They also need to be digitally literate to fully participate in and contribute to digital life, be safe online, and develop analytical and critical skills Josianne Cutajar contracting" (and that makes a teenie-weenie little difference, to the question of whether we are currently in a recession, or not). Then there's the curious omission of any allusion to the second part of that statement, which – while not exactly re- futing the possibility of a reces- sion (those 'large-scale layoffs' were only avoided because of the wage supplement, at the end of the day) – seems to point in a somewhat different direction. Which of course, brings us to the IMF's actual projections for this year – and may I take the opportunity to remind every- one that we're actually in 2021, not 2020 – and… erm… they seem to tell us almost the com- plete opposite. According to the IMF, the Maltese economy is expected to grow by 5.7% by the end of 2021… and by 6%, by the end of 2022. So not only is the IMF clearly under the impression that Malta's real GDP is cur- rently growing, as opposed to contracting… but even the rate of economic growth itself seems to be increasing (ad- mittedly, not by much); rather than decreasing…. as, after all, you would expect it to do, if we were really in a recession. Now: once again, I stress that these are only 'projections' – even if they do come from the world's foremost financial au- thority – but, if they turn out to be as spot-on accurate, as they were for last year… … it would mean that, not only are we very emphatically NOT in "the worst recession of the last 40 years"; but, quite frankly, we are a not even in a recession… AT ALL. In a nutshell, then, this masterpiece of political 'bill- board-badness' has so far man- aged to: a) make us all question what year the Nationalist Party itself even thinks we're all in (seeing as it is very clearly referring to outdated, obsolete financial da- ta), and; b) remind us all that: hey, you know what? Labour did man- age to pull Malta out of a reces- sion, after all. And 'the worst recession in decades", too… All with a little help from its friends in Brussels, of course; and all at an unimaginable cost that will have to be passed on- to future generations. But still: if the purpose of that billboard was to somehow 'score polit- ical points' over Labour, on the issue of economic manage- ment… Well, what more can I say, that Michael Jackson hasn't said already? "The whole world has to answer right now, just to tell you once again: "That's bad…" (Oh, and one last thing. You will have noticed that I used 'bad', badder', and baddest' throughout this article. Nat- urally, I am aware that this is grammatically incorrect; but let's just say that – in this glo- rious age of heightened moral sensitivities – I didn't want to accidentally offend any Ger- man sausages…) Josianne Cutajar is a Labour MEP A European Union that stands for everyone HOW many times do we hear that Europe is too distant from our communities? How many times do we hear that the true ben- efits of Europe are not being felt by every- one? It was this discourse after all that led to the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union some years back. And al- though I do not agree with such discourse, it must also be stated that I acknowledge that this discourse could be strong. The European Union counts amongst its citizens over 450 million people. People who come from different backgrounds. People who have different nationalities, and are of different age. When consulta- tions take place, sometimes as a Union we make the mistake of targeting only groups which encapsulate the majority, or the largest part of the population. We would do more than well, however, if we were to realize that all minorities added up together may equal or overtake the perceived majority. Thus, it goes without saying that in implementing projects and conducting con- sultations, we need to go to the periphery. We need to go to ru- ral areas, as opposed to staying in the cen- tre. More importantly, we need to involve as many people as pos- sible from different backgrounds in these discussions. Involving the periphery Involving the periphery is precisely what the Labour Party and European Socialists did at the "United for a More Social Eu- rope" conference that took place in Malta two weeks ago. At the MCC in Valletta, I enjoyed speaking to, and listening to the in- terventions from different youths coming from different backgrounds, including Jean Fred Agius, Reb Xiberras and Jacob Callus who pushed forward very relevant points. It is precisely with discussions and events such as these that we can continue to bring Europe closer to our citizens. Instead of expecting our citizens to come to us, we should go to them. And that means that consultation sessions should not only be held in capital cities or regional capitals only. They should also be held in areas which are not strictly speaking renowned for being areas that are widely consult- ed. Shouldn't the people of Marsaxlokk, Mellieħa, and Nadur also have a say when it comes to the future of Europe equally to those coming from Brussels or Paris? Shouldn't we empower the people of these villages to speak up their mind? This point was one of my statements at the 'Europe comes to Gozo' side-event organized by myself two weeks ago, where a number of Socialist MEPs from all over Europe and various local stakeholders were present. It goes without saying that statements are important, but believe me when I say that this was not just a statement. In fact, togeth- er with my team, I made it a priority to make sure that these MEPs and their staff also get to meet locals first hand to better under- stand the specificities of an island region like Gozo, an initiative which was positively received by those pres- ent, and which will un- doubtedly be replicated in the future. Familiarising our youths with the EP On the occasion of the European Youth Event that took place on the 8th and 9th of October, I also pro- vided 10 Maltese and Gozitan youths the opportunity to visit Strasbourg to famil- iarize themselves with the European Parlia- ment as well as attend several events and meetings whilst meeting other youths from around Europe. As I stated earlier, the Un- ion needs to make sure that it goes to its citizens at their hometown. However, it is also true that in order to make sure that our citizens understand the workings of the Union, they too must be provided with the opportunity to experience the workings of the institutions first hand. And that's pre- cisely what these 10 youths did a week ago. From my end I look forward to contin- ue providing opportunities both to youths who wish to familiarize themselves with the workings of the EU, as well as to cit- izens living in the periphery who wish to influence European policy. Increasing in- volvement of all is sure to spell success, and believe me when I say that we cannot fail this essential target. www.josiannecutajar.com www.socialistsanddemocrates.eu