“All human life on the planet is born of woman. The one unifying, incontrovertible experience shared by all women and men is that months-long period we spent unfolding inside a woman’s body” - Adrienne Rich from ‘Of Woman Born’

As a politician I am constantly inundated with invitations. From the opening of art exhibitions which I confess leave me with the highest energy and positivity level, to acting as a referee between family members viciously tearing at each other over some inheritance or the lack of it, my diary remains full of scheduled engagements with the activity of humankind  demanding simply my presence, a ‘positive’ outcome, a revolutionary statement, a dig at my beleaguered grey matter, just being a  chair filler, none of the above  or a combination of all of them and more.

In recent months, the most pervasive of this type of superbly rewarding human engagement, that is conferences made bearable by scrumptious multilayered sandwiches here, and discussions  enlightened by delectable caviar of doubtful origins, there, evolved into more frequent meetings to discuss the hottest  enigma of our time, that is how to address the crucial and roaring matter of how to go about reinventing, revitalising and literally giving Europe a fighting chance to re-establish itself and its values in the forefront of  global progress and with a purpose.

I must confess that as I sit through the never ending heated interventions, endless lunches and gourmet dinners I cannot but wonder why all manner of solutions are brought to the fore and dissected to their mitochondrial power sources, while the issue that so clearly and glaringly determines the future of Europe (and Malta, and the world), is only given the consideration one can express between the demolishing (with a complete dentition) of a single mouthful of egg roe and terminally engaging the hardboiled egg served in close  succession.

No country, no continent, no Homo sapiens inhabited planet, can hope for an all round healthy future, if it cannot offer the indispensable players a decent present to make that future a reality.   Is it not clear and obvious that a future is made up of people and their life stories, and those people need a mother to come into being?

We are all born of women, of mothers, and without a politics, a way of life, a culture that nurtures, supports and reveres motherhood, and respects and protects the issue of that labour intense, monumentally demanding role that is becoming a mother and raising children, humanity as we know it, nations, diverse cultures and the endless compendium of traditions, good and bad, that give colour to the spectrum that is humanity will be lost.

The key to reviving Europe, to keeping our Malta and Gozo alive lay in putting motherhood and the excruciating but wonderful journey it entails, on the platform it deserves.

Physically healthy mothers living in safety, dignity and psychological security more often than not means children  being given a real chance to enjoy a healthy childhood, amassing enough positive formation to be able to navigate and enjoy their youth as well as the following healthy transition into the epic challenges of young adulthood.

Europe will thrive, Malta and Gozo will be able to boast a real surplus,  when mother and childhood poverty is not only eradicated but turned on its heels to  rewarding healthy, appreciated , cared for motherhood, and loved, cherished, adequately provided and cared for children.

As things stand, because motherhood is not holding, because motherhood more often than not means the forfeiting of  psychological and financial independence and security, because even sustaining a decent nest to nurture the nestlings has become too formidable a task, our Europe is teetering and our Maltese and Gozitan existence is tottering.

I strongly believe that these upcoming elections need to deliver politicians that care about tackling the real issues that are undermining our continent and our society.

It is painful to watch so much energy wasted in exchanging insults, with posturing and empty rhetoric, when we could be putting our heads together to make sure motherhood holds so that Europe, Malta can hold.