The six MEPs being elected of 8 June must work together and avoid partisan politics, because that is the only way the national interest can be safeguarded.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola made this call when was addressing a conference organized by UHM Voice of the Workers on the occasion of Workers’ Day.

“The worst thing that can happen to us and that we can do is that as MEPs we only focus on our work to get some headlines, and ignore the big picture. If a position is not received from a particular ministry we must chase it and enquire why. If the Maltese commissioner, whoever he is, does not recognize at the very beginning that there may be a problem, we will have a problem, because by the time we get to the vote it will be too late.”

In her address the President of the European Parliament reflected on Malta’s experience during the 20 years of EU membership and the impact it had on the country’s future.

The conference ended with the speech of the UHM CEO Josef Vella who called on the EU to step up its support to general unions in terms of capacity building so that they are in a better position to fulfil their mission. He explained that on average the UHM makes a collective agreement every ten days, while at the same time it has to take active part in various fora and an analyse European directives within very tight timeframes.

From a European  perspective, he called for a greater effort so that directives such as those affecting workers, have a period until which they are implemented to their maximum, even if each country takes a different time to reach such goal.

Josef Vella stressed on the importance of social justice, saying it was the politicians’ duty to fulfil the people’s dreams. Just like the dream of an independent, free and European Malta was achieved, we can also aspire to continue moving forward, the UHM CEO said.

For the third consecutive year, the conference focused on the issue of the cost of living on prices of essential goods. According to a study being caried out by UHM, government’s decision to keep  taxing COLA is resulting in households losing up to a maximum of two shopping baskets worth around €160 each, over the course of a year.

The conference also featured a debate on populism with the participation of the Labour MEP candidates Claudette Abela Baldacchino and Steve Ellul and the Nationalist Party MEP candidates David Agius and Peter Agius.

A presentation was also delivered on the conclusions of a study themed ‘A New Left Economics’ which was carried out by Professor Philip Von Brockdorff and Jonathan Spiteri. This was followed by a discussion featuring independent candidate Prof. Arnold Cassola, the CEO of UHM Josef Vella and Prof. Von Brockdorff.

UHM director Mario Sacco opened proceedings with a speech about the main challenges facing the workers and the achievements made by the union in the last year.