The Maltese flag features in all political activities on our island.  It is used by all parties and also belongs to those who do not affiliate themselves to any political party.  According to the Constitution, it must be placed first and then followed by the European Union flag and any other flag after that.  This is not a coincidence.  It is so, because in all we do, Malta must come first.

Today, the European Parliament shall be discussing a resolution that aims at giving an opinion against various ‘citizenship by investment’ programmes, running in an ever increasing number of European Union member states.  Among the euro-parliamentarians pushing this resolution, one can find two of our very own.  Roberta Metsola and David Casa who were elected to work for Malta and carry the Maltese flag in whatever they do.

Irrespective of our varying opinions here in Malta, what was admirable in the past was that on matters of national interest, we always found a united group of Maltese Members of the European Parliament who spoke in Malta’s name.  Yes, albeit having a Nationalist government and having ample opportunities to score partisan political points, Labour always chose Malta first. 

In reality, we Maltese, all do the same thing.  Yes, here in Malta we might get frustrated at the potholes in our street, we might make fun of certain situations that as the joke goes, are only in Malta ones; however when speaking to our foreign friends or in international fora we always show our Maltese pride.  I remember a few years ago, when a local Italian restaurateur made a public joke on the Maltese, all hell broke loose on facebook and other social media.  It is not in our nature to shut our mouths and allow foreigners to make fun of our country and its people.

Last weekend we learned that on the insistence of our co-national Roberta Metsola, the resolution will be hand-picking only Malta and mentioning it by name.  Let’s make no mistake.  A resolution of the European Parliament is not legally binding but merely expresses an opinion.  All this will only lead to our country being ridiculed by foreign members of the European Parliament aided and fuelled by Roberta Metsola and David Casa.

Is this what we want our elected Members of the European Parliament to be doing?  Even if some might not agree with the government’s programme, I find it very hard to believe that they would want our country to be ridiculed by foreigners, simply for the sake of the Nationalist Party scoring some political points here in Malta. 

At what expense are the PN MEPs working for this resolution?  One cannot say that the result would be the removal of the programme, since the resolution onlygives out an opinion.  All this is being done so that here in Malta, Simon Busuttil who also went on a foreign Television channel (Rai), speaking in a foreign language ridiculing Malta, could say that even the European Parliament does not agree with our government.  When at the same time, Austria, Cyrpus and Hungary have the same programme in place with only different amounts that must be invested to be rewarded with citizenship.

This reminds of various incidents in the European Parliament.  I want to mention only the last one, in which I too, took an active role.  The nomination of Tonio Borg by then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was definitely one that could not have national consensus.  We all know Commissioner Borg’s ultra-conservative views, which in my opinion do not match those of this Government and of the European Commission, especially on certain matters relating to Europe’s Health policy, which falls under his remit.  Notwithstanding the foreign media onslaught and the concerns voiced by various Members of the European Parliament coming from all political parties in Europe, we worked hard to see Tonio Borg being approved by the European Parliament.  Our country needed stability at a time in which it was missing and needed to show Europe unity and goodwill following the speculation on corruption that the former Commissioner’s aides where being investigated on.

I am all for freedom of speech.  I believe that by having different opinions on important matters, we can only strengthen our policy.  This has been seen in the redrafting of the investors’ programme itself.  However, I can never accept an elected Maltese politician that tries to harm our country’s reputation solely for his/her perceived personal gain. 

The electorate will soon have a choice to make.  It has to choose the six Members of the European Parliament that it wants to represent it.  This experience has made the distinction even more clear.  Between puppets of a political party that say ‘yes’ to the political party’s wishes even though this might harm our country and those of us who are willing to fly Malta’s flag high in all we do, I would go for the latter.  I would always vote for Malta first!

Cyrus Engerer is a Labour Party candidate for European Parliament elections