No (wo)man is an island

Green politics are inspired by the notion of nature and ecology themselves: nature, intrinsically balanced and harmonious, is affected by a single change in the ecological chain, and likewise, we live interrelated, like links in a chain, each depending on one another. No man is or can ever be an island. As Greens, we therefore do not accept the principle where the winners takes it all and leaves the rest with scraps.

That is why, as an AD candidate, I believe that we must strive towards a society which is always more inclusive and characterised by equality. AD will strive towards working in the EP in order to create more and better job opportunities and conditions. The European Greens are proposing the Green New Deal - an economic and ecological pact that will create millions of jobs in sectors such as alternative energy, transport, agriculture and waste management. The United Nations, Trade Unions and Employer Associations, in Malta and in the EU, have endorsed the call for the creation of so-called 'green jobs'. If you agree with this proposal, you can visit this link- http://europeangreens.eu/petition - in order to sign our petition for a better quality of life, and you can also take a look at this interesting video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl4lUSCec2s )

In the European Parliament, AD will unite with progressive and forward-looking political groups. Political groups that are not in the multinational's pockets. I believe that we must promote policies against precarious employment and the exploitation suffered by many categories of workers, including youths, women and older workers.

Something that has characterised my electoral platform is policies for helping women enter the labour force. Not for the sake of the market, but because women should have the right to choose for themselves and thus the market must change to accommodate the realties of families, men and women, and not the opposite. This demands a social policy that promotes work-life balance, where women and men are active both at the workplace and in their families, with enough time to engage themselves in other activities, including, why not, also politics, voluntary work, and civil society.

An AD MEP will support the European Commission's current initiative to increase minimum maternity leave to 18 months and even more. This increase in maternity leave, which is still less than that in other developed countries, means that we will move away from rhetoric and show that we can walk the talk. Talk about values is cheap, when the only value followed the law of the market. The government's rhetoric is well known: a government that preaches values, but then resists the increase in maternity leave on a European level,

An AD MEP together with the Green Group and other progressive political forces will insists on a progressive social policy that betters working conditions for all workers and employees in the European Union.

We all depend upon one another. And for society's good, we must strive to maintain the social links that keep us together.