Together we can make a difference

A sterling example of political "dishonesty" is Labour's insistence that Malta has contributed more funds towards the EU than it has received. Up to the year 2013, Malta will have received €1,159 million from the EU but no matter how often the government and the European Commission rebuts Labour's allegation, the truth continues to fall on Labour's deaf ears. Labour's deceit is as detrimental to the country as was its scaremongering anti-EU campaign.

Labour would do better to focus on disassociating itself from Alfred Sant's declarations that joining the European Parliament and adopting the euro were bad decisions for Malta. A Labour member of Parliament has surprisingly admitted that Labour changed its policy on EU membership in 2003 because it wanted to win the general elections. Perhaps that is why most of the Labour candidates continue to insinuate that joining the EU was not a positive step. Even Joseph Muscat keeps asking whether joining the EU was a good thing for Malta.

I will tell Dr Muscat and co. what is not a good thing for Malta: The 139 "voting" mistakes committed by Labour MEPs during the last five years of membership, the worst being when they did not vote unanimously in favour of shifting the burden-sharing of immigrants from a voluntary exercise to a mandatory obligation. On May 7, the three Labour MEPs all voted differently on mandatory binding burden sharing.

One voted in favour, one said he had pressed the wrong button and the other abstained. May I point out that any subsequent corrections to their vote did not count as the original voting results remain unaltered.

What is also not a good thing for Malta is Labour's crusade not to allow an early ballot for the Maltese Olympic contingent. Sadly, while Dr Muscat was getting hot under the collar in Parliament arguing against allowing our athletes to vote a week earlier for the June 6 elections, his MEPs were unable to persuade the Socialist group in the EU, who voted in favour of giving immigrants the right to vote. This is a classic case of Labour's inconsistency at its best. In Malta they say one thing and in Europe they do quite the opposite; Labour's two weights and two measures unfortunately tipped the balance against its own citizens.

To add insult to injury, during this same "not so holy" crusade, Labour refused a "pairing" agreement to allow Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea to attend an emergency meeting for EU Health Ministers to discuss the swine flu. So Malta's seat was the only one left empty at this high level summit thanks to Labour's whims.

Labour's track record regarding immigration leaves much to be desired, to say the least.

It's bad enough that during his four-and-a-half-year tenure as a member of the European Parliament Dr Muscat did not take any initiative whatsoever concerning immigration.

But his attempt to weaken the government's case over the immigrants' standoff with Italy was probably Labour's worst move since last February when the Labour MEPs voted in favour of an EU resolution urging European member states to accept Guantanamo inmates once the prison is closed. I ask, is hosting "terrorists" in this tiny island of ours a good thing?

Was it a good thing for Labour not to vote in favour of cohabitation legislation and this when their leader had said that Labour is in favour of divorce? (One of them voted yes.) Was it a good thing for Labour not to vote in favour of the opt-out clause allowing member states to go beyond the directive's capped overtime limit of eight hours a week? There are many other Labour blunders and inconsistencies... but space is limited. The funds Malta has received from the EU are but a drop in the bucket of benefits we have reaped and will be reaping thanks to EU membership. The 10 EP candidates fielded under the Nationalist Party umbrella had fought tooth and nail for a yes vote and their pro-EU passion spurs them on to work harder to seize all opportunities on offer. They are credible and consistent in all they say and do. The records show that, while the two Nationalist MEPs succeeded in influencing the vote of the members of the larger group, the EPP, in Malta's favour, the three Labour MEPs failed dismally to persuade their larger group, the PES, on every national issue.

Under the heading: Attard Montalto Has Poorest Record, The Sunday Times on May 17 carried a grid of the effective track record of the Nationalist MEPs. They have carried their weight well, they have made their voice heard, they have lobbied relentlessly and successfully persuaded larger groups to see it our way. Regrettably, on several occasions, the three Labour MEPS failed to agree among themselves, let alone induce the Socialist group to vote in Malta's interest.

On June 6, we have a discerning choice to make. Either way we must speak up but speak up we must.