This was the message that came across in the first of a series of debates organised by Studenti Demokristjani Maltin (Maltese Christian-Democrat Students) at the university, aimed at introducing the main candidates to the students.

The speakers in the first debate were four candidates for the 12 June EP election: Dr Simon Busuttil and Dr Roberta Tedesco Triccas on behalf of the Nationalist Party and Dr Wenzu Mintoff and Dr Robert Micallef on behalf of the Malta Labour Party.

The topics discussed on campus included the change in the MLP’s position on the EU, the candidates’ values and principles, the conflicts that may arise between the European parties and the national interest, the lack of participation by the Labour Party in the Malta-EU Steering Action Committee and the opportunities for students and young people in the EU.

It was agreed that students must look at the EU as an ally rather than as an institution that will harm Malta. Students expressed their hope that Malta finds itself a new way of doing politics and that the people contesting this election will shrug off partisanship and use their expertise on European affairs to serve the Maltese population.

Both Dr Busuttil and Dr Tedesco Triccas were active in SDM when students. The latter was international secretary for three years and the former was secretary-general and president for a number of years in the 1990s.