Illegal migration is our major problem

In a few weeks' time our country will hold the second European Parliamentary elections. For our party Azzjoni Nazzjonali this is going to be the first election at a European level.

Although these elections will not decide who will govern our country, the public should be informed that today many of our laws are enforced in our country because of decisions that are taken by the EU.

For these elections I will focus on three main issues. In my opinion the biggest problem our country keeps facing is illegal immigration.

I have been expressing my views and worries about this issue even before our party was launched in 2007. I was one of the first people to show my concern about this problem openly in the public even if I was insulted and given all the bad titles one could imagine.

However, in these past months all the major parties seems to be agreeing with my frame of thought and are expressing their worries about this debated issue.

Our country has to show its claws to the EU on the topic. The VETO should have been used by the government long ago to threaten the EU. Like that, it would have shown that if we do not get help from the EU, then Malta would not cooperate with the rest of Europe.

Having said that, one of my proposals is that those found guilty of human trafficking should get life sentence in jail and not get away with just a few years.

It is pure madness to give €5000 to illegal immigrants in order to make it possible for them to go back to their country. Hence, I believe that this should be considered as illegal as at the end of the day these people have broken the law.

In my view, this system can only attract more illegal immigrants to arrive at our shores. For this reason, I suggest that people should be careful who to vote for in these elections.

Alternattiva Demokratika is proposing to give working permits to illegal immigrants who are still waiting for their application to be processed for refugee status.

This means that closed detentions will only last a few days and illegal immigrants will be free to roam our streets. As a consequence this will create enormous problems for our small island.

Another important issue is the Lisbon Treaty. All our politicians told us was that if this treaty is ratified we will have six seats in the European Parliament instead of five. Even if this treaty is positive thing, there is much more which we surely need to analyse further.

My biggest worry about this treaty is that if it will be ratified, our country will lose the power of the VETO we currently have.

If our country will be faced with a European law that will be against our national interest, we can use our Veto to stop this law coming into force.

With this Lisbon treaty we will lose this power, because we can use our Veto ONLY if a certain amount of countries agree with the same treaty.

For a small country like Malta this can be literally suicidal.

Last but not least we must make sure that in the EU there is accountability.

Today we are part of the EU. Although we get funds from the EU we also pay taxes Union. It is in our interest to send the best people in Brussels to safeguard our well being, culture, identity and civil rights.