“ Our electoral slogan is made up of three simple words: ENERGY, EXPERIENCE, EUROPE ”
I must say that this has been a gruelling but wonderful campaign, and the last month will be as intense. Together with my fellow candidate Yvonne Ebejer Arqueros, we are meeting daily with hundreds of people from different walks of life to discuss the importance of electing a Green MEP come the 6th June.
Our electoral slogan is made up of three simple words: ENERGY, EXPERIENCE, EUROPE. Three simple words that however describe the essence of our campaign, and the characteristics of AD’s political work in the last year. We believe that we are providing a team that has the energy and the experience to help Malta succeed in Europe, and for this reason we have fielded a team that, so to say, combines the ‘old’ and the ‘new’. Yvonne may be a political rookie, but she has shown that she has the necessary mettle to engage with people, listen to their concerns, and inject a humane dimension into a political scene that is often distant from the aspirations of the man in the street.
On the other hand, I humbly present my track record in European Affairs, which culminated in my tenure as Secretary-General of the European Greens. This experience gave me a deep insight into the workings of the European Institutions and made me reaslie that European politics is a matter of consensus and compromise, rather than fruitless and divisive feuding.
A consensus that is brought about by discussion within different political groupings, where one can witness a fine balance between national interests and party ideology. Malta’s limited presence in the EP means that we have a precious representation that must be united and put country first, notwithstanding what their EP political grouping might dictate. I resolve to put this into practice once elected to the European Parliament.
The EP is currently composed of 10 political groupings, and Malta is only represented in two of them. Electing a Green MEP would mean having Malta influencing 50 other MEPs from another political group. Malta will become much stronger with another voice in the European Parliament.
AD has always been a pro-European party and has stood consistent to its beliefs. The Maltese and Gozitans recognised this and had rewarded us with 23,000 first count votes (which then rose to 29,000 with later preferences) in 2004.
This is a tighter election but I’m still confident that we can continue spreading our message and convincing people that electing a Green MEP is a good deal.
I’m very glad to see that you will also be an MEP Candidate this year Mr.Cassola.
It is obviously a pity that the green party cannot afford all the fancy billboards, posters and what not of the other major parties and hence the maltese population have to actually research and educate themselves to see what the green party offers on contrast to seeing MLP/PN candidates all over tv, radio etc.
As i have turned 21 last yr, this is the first time i’m voting for the MEPs. I must be honest here, i’m not sure on voting AD at election time (for the moment at least) but i believe MEPs is an extremely good opportunity to get the right people out there and hence i would encourage anybody to think properly instead of just voting for the usual party. If malta has a representative in the european green party, then we can get more of a say in three different parties and not just 2.
Wishing you the best of luck for the MEP elections – you shall definitely be getting my first preference. Thanks for your work, Regards, Erika