Generally speaking, the speech is a positive one. But the distance and gap between speeches denoting political vision and pragmatic reality is still enormous. Here are my comments, always seen from the perspective of Maltese citizens and/or residents.
RISING COST OF LIVING: The continuously rising cost of living is having an enormous impact on European citizens, pushing more of them towards the poverty level. The EU should seriously embark on Collective Procurement, of the COVID-19 vaccine and gas buying model, when it comes to basic daily life necessities, such as grain and medicines.
DECARBONIZATION OF INDUSTRY-CLIMATE CHANGE: It is laudable that measures are taken for the decarbonization of industry. However, in the field of air transport, the possibility of free and affordable means of air travel for islands surrounded by the sea and far from the mainland should be maintained. Whilst a carbon tax on airline fuel can contribute to decarbonization, there should be a derogation for such islands: the airline tax should only be limited to private planes. Scheduled commercial flights should be exempt from such tax, at least for the foreseeable future.
MIGRATION: It is ironic that while the EU harps on the concept of solidarity and compassion with regard to migrants’ relocation, Germany just yesterday stopped its solidarity mechanism with regard to migrants landing in Italy. We should put our actions where our mouth is.
SUSTAINABLE FARMING: While the launch of strategic dialogue on agriculture is commendable, what will this bring to Malta, where a great part of the little agricultural land is being gobbled up for recreational use or to be built up by greedy developers for their exclusive profit?
EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK: A sacred principle. Women should be paid the same as men for the same work. And all humans should be paid the same for the same work. But, these nice words and ideas apart, is the EU aware that in practice, in a country like Malta, we are full of secretaries, care workers, security guards, etc. who are paid less if they are in the employ of agencies or private companies, though working shoulder to shoulder with state employees who are paid more for doing the same work?
MAKING BUSINESS EASIER IN EUROPE: Another excellent principle. But what happens when Maltese authorities use this excuse of reduction of bureaucracy to actually facilitate unscrupulous business people by removing regulations that are there to protect the common citizen?
INNOVATION, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, A DIGITAL SOCIETY – This is a priority of the EU, and rightly so. But does Ursula Von der Leyen know that the Maltese state only spends 0.6% of GDP on Research and Innovation? As opposed to the 3% being spent on average by the 27 EU countries. What is the Commission President doing about this?
RULE OF LAW: I still remember when a few years ago many of us honest Maltese were appealing to Juncker and Timmermans to intervene with the Joseph Muscat administration, asking them to put in check this Prime Minister and his administration, who were trampling over basic democratic rights.
In answer, both Juncker and Timmermans came to Malta to support and/or campaign for Muscat and his corrupt government. The result of such behavior of EU high representatives, ignoring the pleas of honest people, is that just yesterday the trust of the Maltese in the EU plummeted from 65% to 26% in just one year.
In the Maltese language, we have the following proverb: “Bejn kliem u fatti, hemm baħar jikkumbatti”. This means that the EU has to put its actions where its mouth is.
Programmatic speeches become useless if not translated into real practice.
