Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/260953
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 FEBRUARY 2014 Opinion 21 a resounding chorus in criticism of their own country; only to afterwards trumpet their success in defending the same country's interests. Well, with that kind of defence and those kinds of interests, maybe I'd prefer a slightly weaker and less dominant voice in the European Parliament, thank you very much. It's like that old saying about waves and oceans: it's not the strength of the voice, it's the use you make of it to that matters. In a nutshell, the MEPs in question only illustrated that when push comes to shove, it is the narrow interests of the part y that they will represent… even when these are diametrically opposed to the longer-term national interest. The second striking lesson from that affair was the extraordinary failure of success. For those pushing the EP resolution, there could be hardly any greater success than securing the backing of over 90%, representing all political groupings. It was in fact described as "unprecedented ", which should give us a measure of how successful their efforts were. Yet the effect in practical terms was zilch. Actually you could argue that it backfired enormously, as the IIP scheme is now legally unassailable, and the PN have been left standing with an obsolete judicial protest in hand. But either way: so much for the importance of having a strong voice in the European Parliament. The combined choral efforts of 90% of the House, all shrieking at the tops of their voices, didn't so much as even dent the issue. By that measure, we could even elect Joseph Calleja as an MEP, and he could blow the roof off the Parliament with a resounding rendition of 'O Sole Mio'. Wouldn't make a jot of difference. You can extend the same observation to other issues we've become entangled in, too. At the last MEP election, we were inundated by promises to "do everything possible to reach a burden-sharing agreement with the EU". Five years and countless attempts later, the answer keeps coming back unchanged… only not from the European Parliament, but from the Commission. "Burden sharing is not possible, because the member states don't want it to be possible" (or words to that effect), repeated on an endless, 24-hour loop. Yet we still have MEP candidates making the same promise today, when we can all see that it is not the European Parliament that can even decide on such matters any way. In light of all this, I think perhaps it's time the candidates give the electorate some credit for a change, and actually come up with a couple of new arguments. Why is it vitally important to have a strong voice in the European Parliament precisely now… "precisely now" being a time when the EP itself has been exposed as a rather toothless institution? Let's start with just that for now… We could even elect Joseph Calleja as an MEP, and he could blow the roof off the Parliament with a resounding rendition of 'O Sole Mio – wouldn't make a jot of difference Download the MaltaToday App now The time-travelling TARDIS from Doctor Who comes to mind: you start wondering whether Maltese MEPs are inhabiting the same dimension as you; or if they somehow got stuck in a time-warp