Someone once said that flowers do not grow in Parliament – and neither do they grow in the European Parliament and Commission.

George Orwell’s predicament in his masterpiece, “Animal Farm”, whereby the political system represented by the ruling class decreed that while all animals are equal some are more equal than others, is definitely nothing new in modern day politics, both local and abroad.  (Just a simple locally based example, while John the citizen has a pension capping, MP’s conveniently do not.)

Although various politicians from different European countries have often thrived to work towards a more social and equal Europe, in reality the distinction between the political “class” and John the citizen can be quite clearly defined in almost each and every country, and not less in the European institutions.

Let me give a practical example, which verges on the scandalous to put it very mildly.  A few days ago I was participating in the enlarged bureau of CEDEFOP.  Basically this is a reduced version of the governing board which includes 5 representatives from Union organisations, employer organisations, governments, CEDEFOP itself and of course the European commission.  The team representing the European Commission made it amply clear that the budget cuts ordered by the Commission within CEDEFOP and other European institutions must be adhered to, whether we agreed or not.

To give an idea, CEDEFOP is the European institution that guides Europe and its member states into vocational education trends, training methods, research, retraining of workers and so on.  To put it plainly, in a European economic climate which is on the edge of a cliff with millions of workers (especially young ones) unemployed, if used correctly CEDEFOP could prove vital for the future of the European Union and its citizens, especially those millions that are unemployed and those many other millions that are in precarious or unstable employment.

Due to budget constraints our European leaders not only failed to revamp CEDEFOP and empower it to be its main weapon against unemployment and lack of training, but rather they asked CEDEFOP to do away with a considerable cut in its budget and a reduction in employees.

If taken out of context, a budget cut at CEDEFOP is nothing out of the ordinary.  Many institutions and public services have gone through budget cuts.  But maybe John the citizen would like to know that the European Union spends not less than €820 million PER MONTH just to hold its parliamentary sittings in Strasbourg (instead of Brussels), which sittings occur once per month.  And you might wish to know that those expenses were as reported last year, probably they are even higher this year.  With €820 million per month spent on trivialities which only benefit European MPs, one starts to wonder where the priorities are.  I trust readers are definitely able to draw up an extensive list of initiatives that can be created to help unemployed and faltering economies with €820m per month.  Thus, while millions are in misery and in poverty across Europe, the Commission’s demand for budget cuts only goes to prove that even in a European context, George Orwell was always right.

Russia

The recent events in Ukraine only served to strengthen my resolve to avoid visiting Russia and contributing to its economy until such time as it can display true credentials of a democratic country which respects other countries and their respective peoples.  Not that my contribution would effectively make any difference, but still.

I have participated in various committee meetings of the ETUCE in which various ex Soviet republics are represented, like Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and others and it is pretty obvious that all these countries are living in the shade of Russia and are super cautious not to irk in any way their mighty neighbour.  Judging by the events in Ukraine, they are not to blame.  In reality it is rather debatable whether the Soviet Union ceased to exist considering that most of its former republics, barring perhaps the Eastern Europeans, are more often than not following Russia’s “suggestions”.  

The events in Ukraine have not only shocked the world, but more importantly perhaps, have raised serious interrogation marks on the role (or lack of it) of the United Nations in the face of aggression from powers such as Russia.  Has the United Nations become yet another talking shop?  On a slight tangent, it is also remarkable how various European nations and particularly the United States were sympathetic with the plight of the Libyan people (for example) and intervened with effectiveness, arguably with hardly any formal go ahead from the UN, while at the same time Syrian people are being massacred on a weekly basis.

With this view, I strongly urge the Maltese government, and opposition, to strongly sound its dissent to any bullying tactics from Russia, or indeed any other country.