Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1509248
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 OCTOBER 2023 EWROPEJ Brussels horse-trading: Metsola MAT THEW VELLA LAST year, Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola made history when she be- came the youngest-ever president of the European Parliament. But little might have prepared the 44-year-old centre-right politician for what was yet to come: the war in Ukraine, and the Qatargate corruption scandal. Many would agree that Metsola's star quality has re-energised the role of EP president. She might have not breezed through every single challenge before her, such as the call for better account- ability for lobbies in Qatargate. But she has become a leading voice of support for Ukraine, calling for full EU membership for the former Soviet nation. And her connection with young audiences speaks volumes of Metsola's political pulling power. Now, she is being lined up for a sec- ond term at the helm of the European Parliament. In the game of political horse-trading for the top positions in Europe, little might change for Metso- la or Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. The future power line-up in Brussels, typically shared between the major political blocs, is a whispered secret: Portugal's socialist prime minister An- tonio Costa, hailed by his country's press Expresso and Público as "a star of the Socialists", is tapped to be the next president of the European Council; the foreign affairs post of External Repre- sentative would move into the hands of a Renew politician, the European lib- erals under the sway of French prime minister Emanuel Macron; and for the EPP, no change at the top – Ursula von der Leyen and Metsola get reconfirmed for second mandates. Without doubt, Metsola's effective- ness as parliament chief makes it un- likely that she could return as a back- bencher in Brussels, unless she decided to hang up those shows to take over her party's leadership in Malta – but where is the vacancy? What is certain is that not a few MEPs in the various political groups in Brus- sels feel Metsola deserves the mandate Roberta Metsola addressing European leaders in Granada at the European Council summit on Friday ADPD - The Green Party said that stories of clientelism like the driving licence racket are the rot that ruined a country where patronage, clientelism and fa- vouritism trump fairness and good governance. In a press conference in front of the offices of Transport Mal- ta in Lija on Saturday morning, the Greens emphasised that Maltese politics is riddled with clientelism: politics based on handouts, instead of politics based on rights. ADPD Chairperson and MEP candidate Sandra Gauci said that Abela should be ashamed of trying to turn the discourse about clientelism in driving li- cences by saying that what hap- pened is something normal. "Robert Abela is trying to nor- malise clientelism instead of changing the political system to one where everyone is treat- ed the same. People should be able to obtain what is theirs by right and not through favourit- ism," Gauci insisted. She said that the messages ex- changed over WhatsApp con- firm that there is a whole con- spiracy to dish out favours. "Instead of a politics based on rights we have a politics based on patronage," Gauci argued. Gauci said that the messages show that those involved were well aware that they were en- gaged in a scheme for votes. She insisted that Robert Ab- ela has the strength to change the way politics is done but instead he tells us that for him this conspiracy of favours is normal. She quoted NSO figures from 2022 that confirm that there were 28 deaths on the roads, 19 more than the previous year, and 1,341 accidents in which people were injured. "One shudders to think that some of those deaths and acci- dents are the result of institu- tionalised clientelism with the blessing of the Prime Minis- ter," Gauci concluded. ADPD Secretary General and MEP candidate Ralph Cassar said that in a "normal coun- try" resignations from Minister Ian Borg and other officials in the customer care units would have been instantly handed in. "But Abela's Government prefers such handouts. He wants people to be indebted to his party for being favoured over all others," Cassar said. He said that what used to be done over the phone in the past is now taking place "una- shamedly" on online chats like Whatsapp, which "fortunately ended up in the hands of the journalists who are exposing the manoeuvres of Abela and his friends." Cassar emphasised that any- one who wants a political sys- tem based on good governance cannot but be outraged by what has been reported both about driver's licences. 'Clientelism and patronage is the ruin of this country,' says ADPD ADPD held a press conference in front of the offices of Transport Malta in Lija on Saturday morning (Photo: ADPD)