On Saturday...

On Saturday, the people of Malta will be voting for the first time to elect five candidates to represent them in the European Parliament. We can only do this because 15 months ago we were voting Yes to Malta's membership of the European Parliament and because a month later we voted for a Nationalist government to give effect to that decision.

Fifteen months ago, the Labour Party was doing its utmost to convince people to vote against membership, and as far as that party is concerned the majority on March 8, 2003 voted for partnership! Why on earth, according to this theory, the people changed their minds only a month later has never been explained by the Labour Party, but what is definite is that they still contend that the people had voted for 'partnership' and what is equally definite is that they still argue that that was/would have been the better choice for the country!

And that brings me to Labour's latest contradiction. The MLP billboards urging the people to vote for its candidates in the forthcoming European Parliament election send out one message: "Work, Work, Work". I have been trying various forms of mental gymnastics to understand the precise meaning. The implication seems to be that voting for a majority of Labour MEPs will generate more work in the country! How? Through their presence within the European institutions that they would have liked us to stay miles away from till just over a year ago!

Was it not the Labour Party that was trying to sell the lie that membership will bring about unemployment since the Sicilians were supposed to land here in their thousands on May 1 and take up every imaginable job on the island?

It has not happened and it will not happen. It was part of a strategy built on deceit that did not succeed, not through any lack of trying, but if anything through Labour's sheer overdose of fear and outright lies that were used in vain and backfired!

Fifteen months later, Labour is presenting its eight candidates to take up seats in the highest parliamentary institution of the EU of which Labour adamantly refused to form part. Fifteen months later the same people who told us that EU membership will bring about unemployment, are trying to convince us that through their work within the same Union, they can generate employment.

As the Prime Minister, Lawrence Gonzi, had occasion to point out last Friday, the number of persons registering for work in May went down to 7,500. The employment situation in Malta is faring better than when Dr Alfred Sant was Prime Minister in 1997.

On Wednesday, Minister Louis Galea, who is responsible for employment, explained further in Parliament that as many as 653 persons from those who were declared redundant by April had found alternative employment. Louis also spoke about the changing patterns hitting our country in this sector where the number of part time employees now stands at 34,000 compared to just over 8,000 in 1990.

It is also significant that in the first four months of this year as many as 1,800 vacancies in the private sector were notified to the ETC, while the number of vacancies notified from within the public sector stood at only 312.

Generating jobs is one of the hallmarks of the present administration and the Nationalist Party is determined to make the most out of the new challenges and opportunities facing our country following membership of the EU. One of the main ingredients of success is believing in our capabilities as a people and in adjusting with courage and vision to the new opportunities.

Trying to run the country down and gloating at every real or perceived difficulty on the way, which is the tactic adopted by the Opposition, would never allow us to make a proper take off, let alone grow further as desired by those who have the national interest at heart.

Malta has only been a member of the EU for just over a month but it is already clear that we shall be reaping the benefit of new investment flows into our country that will mean work opportunities that would not have been available had we opted for Labour's "stay out of the EU at all costs" policy.

It is appropriate that we strengthen Malta's voice within the EU by making the right choices on Saturday. The Nationalist Party has presented a list of eight candidates who are all capable, consistent and credible.

They know what the European Union is all about and are well prepared to work pro-actively within it.

They are consistent. They were not telling us to stay out a year ago, only to tell us how much they would like to form a direct part of it themselves a year later! A year ago they were helping in one way or another to ensure that Malta does not miss this historic opportunity and they were making the case in favour of membership when other elements were scaremongering. All the PN candidates deserve our gratitude for being at the forefront when the going was tough, when those who were scaremongering were pouring all imaginable scorn on them for promoting the case for membership.

They are credible. We know that they have not been wavering in their ideals and in their commitments. That is why voters can put their minds at rest in choosing them. There is a symptom about people who change their minds not on the basis of conviction but on the basis of convenience - if such people find it so easy to change what they stand for from what they believed in so fervently into what they do not really believe in, merely on the basis because it now suits them more to behave in that manner, how much easier would it be for such people to shift back from what they don't believe in into what they do believe in, should the opportunity ever present itself again!

When we make a choice about whom to trust to represent us within the European Parliament, we want to choose the persons who have always had the courage to state the truth. We want to choose those persons who guarantee us peace of mind because their track record already establishes their reliability.

The Nationalist Party is presenting us with eight excellent names from which to choose but irrespective of where each and every one us places his or her first preference, it is crucial that every- one give a preference in whichever order one wishes to each candidate on that list.

For the first time ever we shall be voting for the same candidates, irrespective of where we live. Malta and Gozo constitute one district. That makes it more necessary than ever before to give a preference to each and every candidate since much may depend on the way votes are transferred from one candidate to anther during the counting process.

There are no automatic corrective mechanisms, and the percentages gained by the different parties or the independent candidates on the first count have limited relevance since it will ultimately depend on who will be the candidates who go beyond the hefty threshold to be declared elected after the transfers of thousands of votes on a national scale start taking shape. That is the bottom line. Conducting any form of experiment in such an election could lead to a result that is totally different from what the voter would have intended and could mean giving a wrong signal from Malta just as our membership is still in its infancy.

Once we strove hard to give birth to our country as a European nation, we owe it to the newly born that we were parenting last year and celebrating the actual birth only a month ago to ensure that it now grows further and in the right direction within the EU.

That is what we can and shall make sure of... on Saturday.

info@franciszammitdimech.com

www.franciszammitdimech.com