Sunday, 11th January 2009
PN MEP candidate takes aim at spring hunting
Edward Demicoli
Edward Demicoli yesterday launched his campaign as an MEP candidate for the Nationalist Party by declaring his opposition to spring hunting.
During a news conference he said he would be guided by four themes - protection, solidarity, funding and the environment.
The importance of green issues was not a mere gimmick but a firm belief, he said. Mr Demicoli promised to work closely with environmental NGOs which had resources and expertise.
Mr Demicoli also said he was against construction in Outside Development Zone areas and that he would push for more monitoring for cleaner air and more consistency from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
Children's rights and illegal immigration were also a priority for the candidate.
Mr Demicoli said his roots were in the PN, but he was inspired by the fact that the party had not dangled a €15,000 fine over the heads of those who did not toe the party line.
"The Labour Party has not yet understood that MEPs represent the citizens and not the party," the 38-year-old said.
Although relatively new to the political scene, having never contested an election, Mr Demicoli has been involved in EU issues for 10 years and has a love for Europe - which he refers to as "my baby" - that dates back to his studies.
Mr Demicoli had worked for the Malta-EU Information Centre during "difficult times", when he was responsible for explaining to a diffident public what the Union was about. He moved on to highlight the opportunities it offered when he was employed as a spokesman by the European Commission.
Mr Demicoli pledged to have a member of staff dedicated wholly to helping NGOs, associations and small businesses access funds and would push the government to facilitate the process. Children's rights are also high on his agenda, and although he said that progress had been registered on that front, more needed to be done.
While illegal immigration was a human tragedy, Mr Demicoli would also be insisting that the EU show more concrete solidarity towards Malta on the matter.
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Comments
king regards
Edmike Cassar
why didnt the party you represent make his position clear before the EU referendum and the following election about abolishing Spring hunting?? To hunt votes of those who trusted your party? Are you playing another game to hunt votes yourself now? to pretend you are so honest because now your party got the votes of those hunters and trappers who trusted you and now you dont give a damn about them? That wasnt the way your party reacted before the EU referendum and the following election because he gave us in writing that Spring hunting will continue, never mind abolish hunting as Mr Jesmond Micallef suggested! maybe hes the one who needs therapy, to learn become tollerant.
it is the law Mr. Demicoli and not a matter of opinion.
This article states that you worked for the Malta-EU Information Centre during "difficult times".
Indeed these times must have been difficult for him since the same Malta-EU Center he worked for was promising the electorate that the continuance of Spring Hunting was agreed upon by both parties.
Just in case he forgot he should look up the leaflet AGGORNAT edizjoni specjali 13 October 2002/ which emphatically states "tibqa l-kacca ghall-ghasfar fri-rebbiegha"
"BIRD HUNTING IN SPRING WILL REMAIN"
His silence at the time now seems to have been broken on the assumption that his stand against spring hunting might win him votes.
Apart from the fact that this stand goes against all the PN guarantees on spring hunting, which in itself is ambiguous, since the same PN is contesting its guaranteed stand in the EU courts. I can also assure him that his anti spring hunting stand can only be seen as a vote grabbing stunt totally out of line with his parties policies.
A NON STARTER FROM THE WORD GO. inconsistency has never been rewarded.
And what assurance does Mr Demicoli have that, if elected, the EU will take notice of his insistence more than it does of Gonzi's?
Mr Demicoli seems to forget that it was his government and MIC that promised in writing the Maltese citizens that spring hunting will continue after EU accession, and eventually the people voted for that package, so what make him popular to go against the Maltese wishes?
The history speaks for itself, and I will never call Europe as my baby, especially with the present situation when no EU member state volunteered to help Malta with it's illegal immigration problem.
My baby is Malta, and as a hunter and a real environmentalist you have my No:1 reserved :)
The EU is directly concerned because the attraction to illegal immigrants from Africa (potentially millions of them) is provided by the rich EU countries, especially the former colonial powers. The EU must decide: either it wants them and should let them go to whichever country they like; or it does not want them and should help the countries of southern Europe, starting with Malta, to keep them out.
Come June and the elections to the European Parliament, Mr Demicoli has to have a more concrete and credible position on all this, because the boats will be coming just as he will be asking us for our votes.