“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.”—Aesop
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
—J.K. Rowling
In a very short time, voters across the EU (that is those who decide to vote) will head to the polls to elect the new European Parliament. And obviously without any doubt, here in Malta, we are having a good serving of this whole charade, with the typical pageantry.
European Parliament president Martin Schulz last month renounced his €304 daily allowance while he campaigns for the top job at the European Commission, but it’s reported that he has continued to benefit from a special monthly tax-free residence allowance (3,700€) and a representation allowance of (1,418€) per month as EU parliament chief. Why now?? Please, let’s stop these gimmicks. We have been taken for a ride for much too long now. President Barroso says that he thinks that ’Euro-sceptics are dangerous.’ but until it’s dangerous enough to topple the likes of him, I’d say it’s not dangerous enough yet.
And the Brussels gravy train keeps rolling on! Yes, the EU is the mother of all gravy trains!
All aboard the EU gravy train! Eye masks and blankets on Eurocrats’ monthly trip to Strasbourg that costs us £150million a year. (MAIL online, Sat:May 17, 2014—)
Over a five-year term, MEPs now have an income approaching £1million.
‘Huge salaries and lavish expenses are allowing Members of the European Parliament to live like “latter-day Roman senators,”’ a report warned.
Think of how much we hand over to Brussels every year. And just remember that it has had no audit to justify its legality!
The EU gravy train is a private convenience not a public service
How can we bring a halt to it all? The culture of unaccountability and entitlement at our expense is grotesque. Can we stop the EU gravy train? Why not? Why can’t there be European action against this abuse of our money?
And what about the shameful way that the current local electoral campaign is being run?
I don’t think I could put it any better than Nazareno (Il-Partit tal-Ajkla) when he discredited all contenders by saying that ‘none are seriously putting forward any thoughtful proposals for the benefit of the Maltese people and that they are simply obsessed in dirtying and poisoning each other.’ Well, maybe he deserves to be counted more than any of them!
The two main parties are taking the opportunity of simply throwing mud at each other and no serious consideration of the implications of Malta’s membership in the European Union, following the latter’s involved meddling and backing of the fascist coup in Ukraine, has even been mentioned. Politicians in the European Union and USA are supporting Nazism and civil war in Ukraine. How many of us have realised that we could be on the verge of another World War? Could we be dragged into another regional war, not unlike the one in Libya, when we had to tow the line of the US/NATO/EU, in spite of our constitutional clause of ‘nonalignment’? But it looks that all is being left to chance and none bothers, including our Minister of Foreign Affairs, evidently resting in peaceful slumber, if not in compliance with the EU diktat.
If we are going to retain our membership in the EU, then there is no more need to hold this ministry any longer. The vain and stupid new so-called EU Foreign Service is spending taxpayers’ money twice and for what? We already have embassies around the world. This is really just another EU arrogance at a time of harsh cutbacks but it seems it never applies to the EU Gravy Train!!
My country is Malta not the EU! Are we being led by kids or by morons, I ask, as I have lost all faith and trust?
SHOW ME THE MONEY! It has been said that everybody has a price!
Well, how about 188,000 euros per year, to sell your own country out? Money shuts people up, money talks, cash is king!
How many more snouts in the trough?
“We are an independent, non-party, grassroots campaign against the European Union. We want to get out of the EU as soon as possible, so we can take back control of our country from the unaccountable elites of Brussels.” How many times have we heard this song all over the local media?
Don’t we all remember the above famous declarations by both the CNI (Campaign for National Independence) and the FMI (Front Maltin Inqumu—Front Maltese Awake). Well, it now seems that all this has gone with the wind and vanished as these contesting representatives must have also smelled the gravy brewing. Of course, not unlike all the others (if not mistaken, there are 33 of them), they too have dutifully assured us that they are there ‘for you and me.’ Personally, I do understand, though definitely disagree, with the stance taken by our two main parties (both pro-EU) regarding their outlook towards the European Union and their proposed contestation for their candidates for the European Union, but to accept or even to understand the participation of the CNI and the FMI is beyond me as, I am sure, beyond the acceptance of the hundreds of thousands of Maltese who had voted against Malta’s membership in the EU, who were hopefully expecting that these two movements were their sole representative voice and banner.
What makes this hypocrisy more nauseating is the opportunistic attitude taken by the representatives of these two movements (CNI & FMI—both supposedly left-oriented) of taking the advantage of jumping on the religious bandwagon, waving the banner of ‘Christian values.’ Schulz may have blurted out too much but trying to win favour over his bluntness is way out.
It is true that the opportune visit of Martin Schulz, just prior to the MEP election in Malta and not unlike his earlier visit, is definitely intended to give a boost to the Labour Party efforts to garner more votes from the electorate for its candidates. It’s also clearly a case of a ‘tit for two tats’ with Schulz, after eulogising Labour on other occasions, is now looking forward to, at least, winning the support and the Labourite vote in the forthcoming election for the presidency of the European Commission, possibly against the ambitious aspirations of Barroso for a third term, whose mandate runs till next October. Evidently, President Barroso is too comfortable in his lush palatial seat as he refuses to rule out a third term bid.
The only thing that shocks me about all this is why the heck are we still in the EU?! But that’s another story and we’ll talk about it later.
We urgently need a referendum on opting out: RESIST OR SERVE!
GET US OUT!!! WE CAN GO IT ALONE!! WE HAVE DONE IT BEFORE!!
And now go and wave the EU banners in the streets and in the main squares!! Shouldn’t the Maltese public know better??
“Instead of loving people and using money, people often love money and use people.”—Wayne Gerard Trotman
Joseph M. Cachia resides in Vittoriosa, Malta.
