Some people have found it strange that I should be launching my person-to-person campaign, Together, at the height of the summer season when most people, politicians in particular, prefer to lay back a little bit and take what is often a deserved holiday. However, it is not something I could avoid, for various reasons.
My foray into the highest institution within the European Union was initially delayed for years, so I have since had to work hard to catch up. This meant that my favourite way of serving my constituents, in this case, the voting-age citizens of Malta and Gozo, could hardly be followed as rigidly as it used to be.
I hope to fill the gap by embarking on this campaign with the energy and determination that it deserves.
Not only will this help fulfil my wish that each and every person gets the opportunity to discuss certain European and national issues but it will also pave the way for a keener and more direct approach to people’s views and aspirations at a time when we have become too PC-reliant and immobile.
If youths rightly demand the vote at 16, they rightly expect respect for their views on important matters
Together is a campaign that allows personal contact to each and every individual seeking to make his point and to make proposals on how we, as MEPs, can be more effective within our groups at the European Parliament and within the various committees that we are committed to as part of our everyday work in Brussels, Strasbourg and elsewhere.
The same invitation has been accorded to NGOs and other voluntary and professional organisations that need guidance and assistance on questions of European and national concern.
Even more important, they want to present their views and offer their expertise and to be regularly and fairly updated on, even alerted to, developments in Europe that could have an impact, negative or positive, on their unstinting work in many different fields within Maltese society.
It is what their MEP, of whichever political colour, is there for.
The campaign has happily picked up rhythm fast among both individuals and organisations.
My meeting with the Malta Business Bureau, for example, was a highly satisfying experience during which I had the chance to discuss various matters, not least the tourism industry – both incoming and outgoing – which is very susceptible to new EU regulations and/or changes.
Maltese entrepreneurs today have various options where to seek assistance in tackling the Brussels bureaucracy but their MEPs can be a major instrument by exploiting their vast network of ideological and parliamentary alliances.
Our businesses and our tourism investors have every right to expect from us a commitment to our national interests.
In our case. as the smallest EU member State, this is even more crucial.
I have also already met the representatives of Malta’s youth, the National Youth Council, with whom I was happy to notice mutual understanding of the need for the eventual granting of the vote to 16-year-olds in both the national and the next European parliamentary elections.
The new Labour government has already acceded to such a vote at local council elections.
The young men and women of Malta and Gozo have other concerns.
They want to be heard on all other issues of European and national interest.
If they rightly demand the vote at 16, they then rightly expect respect for their views on such important matters as IVF.
Together is not a mere slogan for a short-lived campaign. It is exactly what it says: an ongoing process during which we can discuss and plan strategies together for the benefit of Maltese society within a European context.
joseph@josephcuschieri.com
Joseph Cuschieri is a Labour MEP