For the first time in my life I shall be running for political office – the European Parliament elections to be held in June.

Understandably, people still sometimes ask: “Why are you doing this? Why are you running for a EU Parliament seat and why on the Labour Party ticket?

The answer is that the incompetent governance of my country has reached a level no longer acceptable to me. People are fed up, frustrated and hate being lied to, used and taxed silly by a clearly inefficient dysfunctional government – and so am I. The government does not have a shred of credibility left after welshing on promises made at the general election in March to win votes. Remember the promise to provide us all with five free light bulbs? Voters are tired of giving power to those who use it to trample over them. This is nothing but a group of power-hungry individuals. It just is not on.

Ask yourself this simple question; why is the government insisting on imposing whopping huge tariffs on our water and electricity bills when the price of fuel and its products have been collapsing for months? Who buys our petroleum products? Are there middlemen involved? How have hedging deals been handled? If it is true that fuel was bought at 120 dollars a barrel in August for the following eight months or so, whoever was responsible must account for his actions because he/she/they was gambling with our money. Does anyone realise what repercussions the announcement of 185 per cent increases in our utility bills just before Christmas has done to the commercial community – many of which depend on good Christmas sales for the viability of their businesses? The fear of uncertainly could be felt, almost touched. Where is the transparency we all expect from people handling our money?

Do you have the answers to any of these questions? No – and it seems nor does anyone because no explanations have been forthcoming, even though such explanations are long overdue.

Ask yourself this other question. Do you get the feeling that joining the European Union has brought you nowhere near – personally and your family– the same benefits an EU citizen enjoys in say, Britain, France, the Czech Republic or Cyprus for that matter? Is it your impression that we are made to believe the EU is there largely for government ministers and their acolytes – more than it nets you tangible returns?

If the answer to most of these questions is yes, the reason is one – our EU membership is being grossly mismanaged by an inane government that thought 1 May 2004 was mission accomplished! Yet that is the date when the Maltese electorate began to expect enjoying the advantages of being EU citizens. Personally I never believed that joining Europe was arriving at the Promised Land; nor did I believe it was hell on earth. I believed then, as I do now, that Europe offers opportunities for which our government and we citizens must strive. I believe that we must explore and exploit, turn the challenges into opportunities, abide by our obligations but demand what is ours by right. Is this what is really happening? I do not think so.

All of this makes rational people conclude the government does not give a sow’s ear whether being an EU citizen improves your lot or not. The case has been eloquently made several times by others that what the government has dug itself into is an almighty mess and, rather than see how it can get the EU to help, is taking a piggyback ride on you – certainly in agreeing behind your back with other EU leaders over illegal immigration, and more so by scurrying to eject itself out of self-inflicted problems by dipping its hands deeper into your pockets.

This convinces people that the government is not there for you. It is not there to ensure you truly begin to enjoy the same rights and benefits like any EU citizen elsewhere.

Several factors confirm this.

Do we, in Malta, have a functioning Competition Authority, as the EU insists? Of course not. That’s why we are often taken to the cleaners by dodgy traders and the government itself. It’s the absence of a competition authority that allowed the government to breach EU law by imposing VAT on car registrations that make our cars the most expensive in the EU.

Do we have reliable and objective State-appointed regulators that seek out our best interests – not the government’s? You have to be joking. That explains why the government, threatening us with gross water and electricity tariffs and taking 11 unions for a ride, can get away with it.

Do we have a government that keeps its word? That’s a laugh. The height of arrogance has been consistently shown by Austin Gatt who, despite better counsel, went ahead with the dismantling of a profitable Sea Malta – to Malta’s eternal loss.

The measure of this man’s arrogance ranges from wanting to waste money building a road at Ghadira nobody agrees with, to backing down from publicly pledging funds for a new Crafts Village at Ta Qali.

Not to mention buying a new Jaguar right in the middle of a fuel controversy when some people can no longer afford to switch on their water heater!

I do not identify myself with a group of people who, having been in power for 21 years, have become immune to peoples’ needs; whose arrogance has reached stratospherical proportions; who are making a mockery of my country and my fellow citizens; who mock good governance and for whom integrity, accountability and transparency seem to be three useless words.

I want to be part of the Labour Party team that effectively ensures the Maltese enjoy the same rights, benefits and advantages citizens up and down the EU are proud to have won for themselves – the PL European Parliamentary team.

I am ready to be part of a team that will stop the government from cheating us out of our own EU rights and that is why I have decided to run for public office on the PL ticket. For those of us who are honest, committed and who put their country’s interest first, this is easier done than said. My principles are not negotiable. In the European Parliament I will fight for what is ours by right – you can count on me.