Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1515076
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JANUARY 2024 6 INTERVIEW Clint Azzopardi Flores: Mission to resist CLINT Azzopardi Flores rejects the la- bel Eurosceptic when I suggest it to him at the tail-end of a 45-minute sit down at his Hamrun office. He smiles and insists his bone of conten- tion is the European Commission and its attempts to overreach its remit while not being subjected to enough scrutiny. "The European Commission wants to put its finger in every pie," he tells me. Even in taxation matters where decisions are supposed to be taken at Council lev- el by unanimity, the Commission found ways of going around the system, he says. Azzopardi Flores argues the Commis- sion also imposed taxes under the guise of environmental rules with reference to the emissions trading scheme. But when questioned about the green transition and the cost to get there, he in- sists it is important for the environment but requires prudence. "It is how we tran- sition that matters… People need breath- ing space in the midst of all that is going on in the world with conflict, logistical disruptions, inflation," he says. Azzopardi Flores also calls out what he describes as the European Commis- sion's "hypocrisy" on how it dealt with the Ukraine war and the conflict in Gaza. There was no call for sanctions to be applied over what is happening in Gaza, he tells me but when asked whether he is against sanctions on Russia, Azzopardi Flores insists they should have targeted key individuals. His underlying belief is that the sanc- tions against Russia have hurt Europe and with the prospect of a more isolationist US on the horizon if Donald Trump is elected president in November, Azzopar- di Flores says the EU will be unable to sus- tain Ukraine on its own. On the domestic front, he believes the reasons for high abstention rates captured by various polls are varied. Many are per- sonal grievances but he adds inflation has hurt people and this has dampened en- thusiasm. Clint Azzopardi Flores worked in the diplomatic service at Malta's representative office in Brussels, negotiating on behalf of the Maltese government. But now, he wants to be an MEP and is contesting on the Labour Party ticket with a vow to resist the European Commission. Interview by KURT SANSONE. "The European Commission wants to put its finger in every pie"