Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/884700
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2017 News Muscat adamant on quotas 'shock therapy' to elect more women MIRIAM DALLI 70 women being mentored for politics in the Labour Party's LEAD programme were urged by leader Joseph Muscat to prove critics wrong on positive dis- crimination. The prime minister yesterday hinted once more that he would steam ahead with a proposal to include a quota system for parlia- ment, dubbing it "shock therapy". "Shock therapy is always need- ed to make the first step. We can no longer live in mediocrity. The country needs a wider partici- pation where decision-making is shared," Muscat told the par- ticipants, whom he described the "trailblazers of the future". "You will be amongst the first women joining a system of posi- tive measures," he said, refusing to use the phrase "positive dis- crimination". "Because you will be elected [to parliament] through the quota system, you will be criticised. Your performance will be crucial to show the difference your par- ticipation will make." Notwithstanding, Muscat said that the concept did not mean that women "will be the favoured ones". "The choice between a woman and a man will be down to merit. We need to destroy the miscon- ception that quotas are needed because women do not have the drive to do it on their own." The programme is led by La- bour MEP Miriam Dalli and for- mer minister Deborah Schembri, in a bid to bolster the party's line- up of women candidates. Addressing the programme's first session, Prime Minister Jo- seph Muscat stressed the impor- tance of changing the mentality that surrounds the participation of women in politics. "In the majority of interviews, you all spoke of the desire of doing po- litical work but you felt barriers were up all around you. Our cam- paign, and your participation, just proves how much we need to be proactive. This increases my resolve to take the campaign nationwide and see that there are more opportunities for women in decision-making roles." Describing Dalli and Schem- bri as role models, Muscat told participants that likewise, they would become role models for others to follow. Muscat said that he did not know at least 80% of the partici- pants – a positive sign which he said meant the programme "is not a fake exercise, or that the usual people have applied." Muscat also spoke of the need to engage with critics of gender quotas, not by antagonising them but by showing how such "posi- tive measures" are temporary until it becomes the norm – in a typically conservative society – that women are elected on their own steam. He said Labour no longer adopts its quotas for party elections, af- ter the mechanism propelled leading women into the party structures. Sant contra EU: 'Federalism will silence minnows' MATTHEW VELLA Labour MEP and former prime minister Alfred Sant has warned against the growing influence of EU federalism and control on countries' sovereignty. He told constituents on Friday that minnows like Malta faced a major dilemma alongside small states like Cyprus, Ireland and Denmark in maintaining sover- eignty on issues like tax evasion and national security. "A strong Europe is in eve- ryone's interests, but a federal Europe will silence the voice of these small member states, in- cluding Malta," Sant said. He cited as an example border controls set up against terrorist threats. "Controls across Schen- gen areas, which previously did not exist, have already been in- troduced. One proposal now in- cludes a similar structure to that of the FBI in the United States to ensure that terrorists do not abuse the Schengen area. It's in Malta's interests that Schengen is protected so that it is easier for tourists to reach Malta." He also warned against EC at- tempts at harmonising corpora- tion taxes across the EU. "It's in the interests of mem- ber states like Malta to maintain their sovereignty over taxation. What's good for large countries like Germany and France is not necessarily in the interests of the member states on the periphery of Europe. One-size-fits-all poli- cies is unfair on matters of taxa- tion for these small countries." Sant said precarious work was on the rise in a society that is now concerned with immigra- tion and terrorism, and respond- ing with populist choices at the polls. "Divergences between dif- ferent regions in Europe are wid- ening further. These divergences must be addressed because in certain regions, including in East Germany, generations of young people are feeling emar- ginated."