The law of diminishing returns

A few days ago, my colleague, David Casa, and I held a press conference to publish the report of our work in the second year in office since the last election. This has now become an annual event during which we give an account of our work to the media and the public.

The report unequivocally shows the full worth of the two Nationalist MEPs. To put it bluntly, it shows that two Nationalist MEPs are worth to voters more than three Labour MEPs put together. This explains why you should not remain indifferent to the European Parliament elections. More so because, since 2009, the European Parliament has almost equal power with the Council of Ministers in making EU laws. And these laws bind you and affect your daily life. Thus, you have a more compelling reason for going out to vote and making sure you are well represented in Parliament.

The price of indifference is high. It means being lumped with decisions that bind you but over which you would have had no say because your representatives failed to influence them.

MEPs are elected representatives in a powerful institution. They are also legislators, that is, they make laws. They cannot change everything. But their level of activism in shaping EU laws and decisions can make a difference to you.

Their contribution to the EU law-making process can be measured. By the number of parliamentary documents that they draw up or the ones that they change, through their amendments. It can also be measured by their level of participation in committee and in plenary work.

Data provided by Vote Watch, an independent organisation that studies the parliamentary activities of MEPs in the interests of transparency and accountability, clearly shows that the two Nationalist MEPs outstrip the three Labour MEPs. By a significant margin of two is to one.

In addition, Nationalist MEPs have a better attendance record of the plenary sessions, the full meetings of the European Parliament Chamber, than Labour.

These statistics are not cooked. They are coming from an independent source. So they cannot be challenged.

The law of diminishing returns seems to be working here: the more Labour MEPs we elect, the less voters get in return. This is the stark reality when seen in numbers. But this reality becomes starker still when one assesses the quality of the work performed on a day-to-day basis.

So the statistics speak for themselves and show, without any shadow of doubt, that two Nationalist MEPs are worth more than three Labour MEPs put together.

And this is not a one-off. This is not even a trend. This is a track record that has been established and repeated year in, year out since 2004. That includes the years when the Labour leader himself was still an MEP.

There are two conclusions that can be drawn here.

The first is that it makes more sense for Maltese voters to have Nationalist MEPs in the European Parliament. More so given that with just five (soon six) seats out of a Chamber of 736, we do not have the luxury of misplacing our limited resources.

True, voters did not seem to think so on the occasion of both European Parliament elections held so far in 2004 and then in 2009. On both occasions, they gave Labour an overwhelming majority. But everyone knows that, regrettably, European issues are by far outshone by national issues that bring out the protest vote. We are not unique in this sense.

The second is that, once again, the Labour Party is revealed for what it truly is.

They are fine at grandstanding during election campaigns when they are canvassing for your vote, promising everything to everyone, telling you how good they would be and raising false expectations that they can work out miracle solutions. But when entrusted with power they fail to deliver. And the result is there for everyone to see.

Does this sound familiar? Perhaps, because the experience is the same with national elections and even with local councils.

I am sure that discerning voters, who expect results from their representatives, can see this very clearly. And if two Nationalist MEPs can outstrip three Labour MEPs and generate these results, just imagine if there were three of us.

If you want to see the full second annual report of the Nationalist MEPs go to www.simonbusuttil.eu/default.asp?module=content&ID=394.

www.simonbusuttil.eu

Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.