Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1520629
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 MAY 2024 6 INTERVIEW Arnold Cassola: 'We should not become numb towards wrongdoing' ARNOLD Cassola is a veteran politician, having first put his name on the ballot sheet in the 1992 general election as a candidate for Alternattiva Demokratika. Five years ago, he parted ways with the party he helped found and has since been on a solo mission as an independent candidate. On 8 June, his name will be on the ballot for the European Parliament election. Despite failing to get elected all this time, Cassola insists his seven-year stint as secretary general of the European Greens and his continued political activism over the years have given him a lot of ex- perience. "I have a track record of 35 years in politics… people can judge me on what I did and not just on what I say unlike the younger candidates, who be- cause of their young age, can only say what they will do," he tells me as we sit down in the garden of his house in Swieqi. Cassola acknowledges the disconnect that exists between Brussels and ordinary Europeans. "Brus- sels is too far away and there is this mythology, grounded in some truth, that people go to the European Parliament for the gravy train but what happens in Brussels does have a lot of relevance; had the European Public Prosecutor's Office not existed, Fredrick Azzopardi would not be investi- gated on bribery allegations in connection with the Marsa Junction project," he says. He is unfazed by the label 'traitor' often levelled towards Maltese who shame Maltese officials in Brussels. "It's bad nationalism," he shoots back. "If I am walking in the street with my zipper down, I would expect a friend to tell me. If Malta has its zipper down it is my duty to point this out so that it could be fixed," he says. "Candidates from the PN and PL speak of this mantra of pulling the same rope otherwise you are a traitor. No; excuse me, I will not defend the Mal- tese at all cost. Do you expect me to defend Konrad Mizzi? I will defend that which is just and good." If elected, Cassola says he will sit with the Greens but will have a pre-agreement that on issues of conscience he will vote according to his beliefs. The reference is to abortion, which Cassola oppos- es unless it is necessary to safeguard the woman's life and health. But it is not just abortion, he adds. "There could also be issues on which the Greens are absolutist such as the emissions tax on ships and which I would try to seek compromises to safeguard Mal- ta's particularities as a small island state." Independent MEP election candidate Arnold Cassola's favourite trio of numbers is 3-2-1, representing how he believes Malta's EP seats should be distributed. He sits down with KURT SANSONE to discuss the EU disconnect, defence and being called a 'traitor' I have a track record of 35 years in politics… people can judge me on what I did and not just on what I say unlike the younger candidates, who because of their young age, can only say what they will do