Time to make Europe controversial again

It should not be about ruthless politics. It must be politics with a mind and heart. It must be about men and women, youth, children, the elderly, persons with a disability, dreams and emotions. It is in this sense that we have a moral obligation to make Europe controversial again. It is high time that instead of debating about domestic tug of wars between individuals, we put on the national agenda how the European Union cannot maintain the status quo in public services, a policy area which is largely of a social nature, because market forces alone cannot guarantee an adequate level and quality of service provision.

We are taking Europe for granted. And it is morally our obligation to rock the boat. Europe should radically be seen as new both in its scope and generality. We must have the ability to innovate in the hope of securing a better life and register progress and every society must rest on the belief that it can shape its own future. People want to shape their own future. People want to assume ownership of Project Europe. We as a nation are part of Europe and we want to shape our own destiny. That is what we have done in the past and this is what we should be doing if we want to attain a better life as a nation.

There are so many issues, social, economic and environmental, that must be tackled in order to have a better future, a better life across Europe. But no, here in Malta we remain silent on these issues and prefer to continue with the tug of war between personalities because that is the problem with power. It corrodes all relationships. There is only one reason to be "ruthless" and that is to make Europe-Malta a better place worth living in. That is the challenge ahead of us and our controversies should focus on how to attain this without losing what we have achieved in the past. And we must not be afraid of our past.

Is it shameful to remember how we have striven as a nation to become independent and attain freedom? Is it shameful to remember that as a nation we once had Sea Malta, Mid Med Bank, Maltacom and Malta Shipyards? Only one thing has to be clear in answering these questions. We can have the most factual account of a historical episode but the wrong theoretical apparatus will fundamentally undermine it. The Facebook generation was far from hands-on at that time in history. But one thing is sure: Youths are interested in our successful past!

And that is why our aim should be on how to become "ruthless" in our drive to clean up mismanagement, how to become "ruthless" in eradicating poverty and how to become "ruthless" in tackling climate change and immigration - all of which have a particular social connotation. We have a historic opportunity. Let's change our attitude towards politics - this must become our dream. Politics with a mind and a heart, where we meet the aspirations of the families because who would not want a better future and better economic, social and environmentally- healthy living?

The socialist members of the Committee of the Regions, in their contribution to the platform of the European Socialist Party for the European Parliament elections of June 2009, have formulated demands concerning the future European social agenda which, in their view, have not been given sufficient consideration, namely quality employment.

A social inclusion policy cannot focus exclusively on access to the labour market but it must also work towards quality employment. There is a need for European coordination in the campaign to defend conditions of employment, wages and salaries. The rise in insecure forms of employment (short-term or temporary contracts, self-employment, work placements) jeopardizes freedom of and at work as well as the sharing of risks, costs and benefits among individuals, companies and authorities. This is very relevant to our country and dignity should not continue to be stolen from people.

It is not "over the top" to believe that if our society is still holding together today it is because we have been able to identify solutions in the past. Let us hope we would get better recognition from the French Presidency of a truly social agenda for Europe in the future.

Ms Abela Baldacchino is deputy mayor of Qrendi, vice president of the Socialist group CLARE, member of the Committee of the Regions and a member of the national executive of the Malta Labour Party.