Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1521709
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JUNE 2024 OPINION Abandon cheap provincial politics, go Green Ralph Cassar is an MEP election candidate for ADPD – The Green Party BERNARD Grech and Robert Abela are at each other's throats, feeding their gullible minions the myth that their petty politics matters in the European Parliament. Their provincial, pseudo-nationalistic rhetoric is sickening. They barely mention their MEP's voting record and their respective European parties' ideological stances in the European Parliament. Straight to the point, Roberta Metso- la managed to export Maltese nepotism straight to the heart of the European Par- liament. According to news site Politico, Chiocchetti, who from Metsola's chief of staff was parachuted to the role of parlia- ment's powerful secretary general, was a controversial candidate from the start. Chiocchetti is widely seen as the bene- ficiary of nepotism and the beneficiary of secret horse-trading that saw parliament create several new jobs to secure politi- cal support for Chiocchetti. She even at- tempted to appoint Matthew Tabone, her brother-in-law as chief of staff instead of Alessandro Chiocchetti, relenting after an outcry. Typical Maltese provincial politics at the heart of Europe. Roberta Metsola's political group, the EPP, led by its President Manfred Weber and his right-hand man, and the political group's secretary general Simon Busut- til are going down a dark sinister path of collaboration with the far-right, includ- ing planning to undermine the necessary Green Deal. They peddle the old politics and buzzwords like "competitiveness", "innovation" and creating business-friend- ly environments, while fanning the dan- gerous flames of hate against 'foreigners'. Their support of Hungary's anti-demo- cratic, autocratic strongman Victor Or- ban, until he 'crossed the line' of criticising EPP leadership is clear for all to see. Un- dermining democracy and people's basic rights was not a problem for them. Since 2019, the EPP votes more and more with the fascist, ultra-nationalist ID Group, which includes toxic parties like German neo-nazi AfD, hatemonger Sal- vini's Lega, anti-diversity toxic nationalist Marine Le Pen's RN. What's more, the EPP leadership refused to sign an open letter condemning the violence of the far- right towards democratic candidates in different parts of Europe. The letter unequivocally stated the com- mitment of the pro-European groups to "reject any normalisation, cooperation or alliance with the far right and radical par- ties" and it was signed by the Greens/EFA Group, the Renew Group, the Socialists and Democrats Group and the Left Group, but not by the EPP. The centre-right's tra- dition of opening the door to the far-right seems to be again on the EPP's agenda. On agriculture, the EPP is clearly on the side of agro-industry, at the expense of farmers. The EPP Groups votes against farmers' interests. Instead of limiting the amount of money that each farm can re- ceive to a maximum of €100,000, so that the money can be better shared amongst also smaller farms, the EPP defends a sys- tem that provides 80% of the money to on- ly 20% of farms. It votes against workers' rights. For ex- ample, it voted against measures to ensure that those receiving EU money as part of the EU's "recovery package" are actually paying their workers decently. An analysis of key votes in the European Parliament shows that the EPP tends to vote against anything that would make access to EU money for companies conditional on pay- ing their workers well. On to the Socialists. On rule of law issues, the Socialists are kind to their colleagues in government. In the Maltese case, when the European Parliament worked on a res- olution "on the rule of law in Malta, five years after the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia", the S&D Group worked to soften the text so that it was not as crit- ical towards the Socialist-led government. Let's remember that under Muscat's and Abela's stewardship, Malta now ranks be- low Hungary in terms of media freedom and protection of journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders. With all their rhetoric about workers and the need for strong, effective pub- lic services, the S&D Group are part of a majority, together with EPP and neo-lib- eral Renew, that is reimposing austerity in the European Union. It looks like the EU's austerity politics are about to crawl back from the grave. The Social Demo- crats completely ignored the warnings from trade unions, economists and civil society organisations and decided to side with the Christian Democrats and the Liberals to ratify a disastrous deal that is going to strangle our workers and the planet. Instead of learning from the aus- terity mistakes of the past, which even mainstream economists now recognise were damaging to our social infrastruc- ture, destroyed livelihoods and directly stoked the rise of the far right all around the EU, this deal will effectively stop all of the much-needed investments in cli- mate action and public services. S&D is also part of the broken system that is squeezing small farms to death. They had two opportunities during this mandate to improve farmers' lives and working conditions. However, on both occasions, they failed to listen to small farmers and instead followed the line of the well-re- sourced and very vocal agro-industrial lobby. It should be more than clear that Green is the colour of progressives and ecolo- gists. Greens have what it takes to stand up for a green and social Europe. We stand firm in defending Europe's fun- damental freedoms, for the right to be yourself, free and happy. We act on the climate crisis. The climate crisis is the de- fining issue of our times, and we approach it with the urgency and seriousness it de- mands, as we, the Greens, have done for decades, including here in Malta. We stand by our ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions, transition to re- newable energy, and preserve our nature. In Malta, we do not waffle on the urgency to tackle the climate crisis, to transform our economy into a wellbeing economy, and to repeal the damaging rationali- sation scheme and the revision of local plans. In the EU, and indeed around the whole of Europe and the world, Greens are willing to stand up to the big oil com- panies profiting at the expense of our planet and our futures. Our policies will bridge the gap between the richest and the poorest, ensuring access to afforda- ble housing, slashing energy bills through massive investment in renewable energy, and improving salaries for everyone, irre- spective of their background. Away from the petty tribal politics ped- dled by PLPN, on 8 June, just vote Green. Ralph Cassar