Debate contributions by Peter AGIUS

Mr President, in Malta there were those who did not want to talk about Daphne today. He said that this debate was a treason planned with the Leader of the Opposition. Then you see them coming here to defend the indefensible for the false defending Malta, but they are also defending the behaviour of those who want to abuse power. They defended the one who was removing the candles from Daphne's memorial. Because Daphne is too uncomfortable for them. Because Daphne told the truth, and her truth was troubled. It shakes the dirty conscience of those who do not want to implement the public inquiry, the public inquiry that told us there should be a crime for unexplained wealth. Why don't you want this crime in Maltese law? Her truth continues to shine. Tackling those who want to make a gas pipeline with the 17 Black, forces those who want to steal four hundred million from hospitals. Daphne is not afraid of us, because we really love Malta, as Daphne Caruana Galizia loved it.

Mr President, thank you to my friends who participated in these negotiations. We started from a very different point of view, but we found the balance. We have found the balance that shows us the way forward. I believe that the European single market is "a means to an end". It is a tool to protect the consumer. It is a tool for the king to be the consumer. Above all, the market is a tool to promote innovation; promoting ideas, ideas that create work. They create jobs and create wealth in Europe. Jobs, growth of our companies and communities: this is the main purpose for the European market, and we must be clear in all the rules we adopt here that our laws must bring us not to distract us from creating this good in Europe. In fact, our laws must give answers to citizens, as colleagues have said. Last week, for example, I was in Malta, and I met an angry person because I bought a washing machine and it cannot be repaired. Why? Because the ways in which it is built cannot be repaired. In this report, we are putting forward solutions. We want the products to last longer and the producer wants to tell you how to repair. So the consumer is the real king. Another important challenge, as mentioned by colleagues, is fast fashion and one-week products sold with four sold by internet giants. They are failing shops and self-employed with gzuz in our villages. What is the solution? Not to stop influencers and advertising. But everyone has to assume their responsibilities. Everyone must adhere to the same rules and, if not, there must be consequences. We must now see this report followed up with actions considered and effective by the European Commission. We are ready to make our strong contribution to that discussion.

President, I agree with several points expressed by colleagues here and thank colleague Michalis for the report. It is above all about simplification and working towards European competitiveness. But here I wanted to make an important point on the islands. I come from an island, the island of Malta and Article 174 of the Treaty obliges us all, in the European Union, to pay particular attention to the islands. Now, in this last legislature, we have had several laws that increase the level of burdens that do not take into account the particular burden on islands, which are cut off from the mainland, for example, that do not have access to the European market, as do the big countries. So I would like to make a point: fiscal sovereignty for many islands has become practically the last weapon, the last tool they have to seek to attract foreign direct investment. I agree to cooperate on tax matters, but let's look at the impact of everything we are doing. Not only the impact at European level with the impact assessments that the European Commission does well, but the specific impact on territories and islands.

Mr President, out of respect for the colleagues, I want to address some of the issues that we spoke about here. I think we should ask a question: is there such a thing as too much love in life? Because what I see in the Petitions Committee is that there are some MEPs, some nationalities, who put a lot of effort into putting petitions in front of us to discuss them and give them due attention. And there are some others who don't know too much about the potential of this committee. So sometimes maybe we exaggerate about the attention we give to this committee and the effort we put into the petitions, but this is democracy, after all. The committee represents the democracy of this House and the balance of this House, so we need to make more effort to represent all voices, and our engagement is precisely that. We have a resolution in front of us which should represent this balance. We'll make our efforts to come across to all voices and we look forward to a coherent and strong signal from this House so that the Petitions Committee can continue delivering on representing the citizens and securing a better implementation of our rights on the ground.

Mr President, the Committee of Petitions is about giving a voice to citizens. It is the committee of the citizens. Through us, citizens can put pressure on the Commission, on the Member States to make sure that from laws we pass to rights. Because after all, this is what citizens really care about. They do not care about laws; they care about rights reaching them and their families. During the year 2023, the Committee of Petitions received 1 452 petitions representing a 16 % increase over previous years, but we believe there is room for much more. We believe there should be much more awareness about this important tool for citizens. The main topics of the petitions were the environment, internal market and fundamental rights. We received, for instance, many petitions on the Data Protection Regulation and its breaches in various Member States. We received petitions on the rule of law and democracy and a lot of petitions on environmental concerns. In fact, it's fair to say that there is no Petitions Committee hearing without matters on environmental protection discussed in the committee, including wildlife conservation, forest policy and breaches to the Habitats Directive. We received many petitions also in the area of health, and this clearly shows that citizens want more out of Europe in this area. And in many discussions we had in the committee, it is with pride that I say that a lot of our discussions lead to changes, lead to implementation, lead to enforcement, lead to investigations. Of course, we need more of this. We need the Commission to dedicate even more resources to following up, to responding to petitions and to implementation. In 2023 we also organised four public hearings, some jointly with other committees, and these covered a wide range of petition-driven issues, including the Schengen border concerns, the impact of climate change on social security and vulnerable groups. The committee and the Commission maintain a very solid ongoing cooperation and we need, as we said, more involved Commission services and dedication to responding to petition concerns. I would like to close with the message in Maltese by stressing the clear link between our rights as European citizens and the time we delay to take them up. In English, we say: Justice delayed is justice denied. And here I take an example from Malta, my electorate. In Malta we are supposed to have European standards for a clean sea but meet families with children, they tell you: "I can't enjoy the beach because there's sewage going out into the beach". In fact, seeing history sees that the European Commission has been sending letters for ten years. Last year we had a court ruling which finally stated that we need to enforce European law. However, in the meantime, those children became adults and did not enjoy the beach. Let's do it more, all of us, to focus on implementation. Because after all implementation leads to rights. We in the petitions committee will do our part by giving the voice to citizens who often have no other way than to come before us. I therefore conclude by thanking the colleagues of all political groups and even out-of-group MEPs for the immense dedicated work in this committee and looking forward to an interesting dialogue today and a strong and coherent vote for the resolution ahead of us.

Mr President, Colleagues, the discussion today for me is not on passports. The discussion is about the great frustration of people who see a teethless Europe that takes eleven years to tell the truth. The court said it was obvious. It is not obvious that you must have a genuine link with a country to be a citizen! But did we need 11 years, to see how misleading the Labour government of Joseph Muscat and Robert Abela is? This is the anger of the Maltese people today, who do not know how much they are eating with you. Let me tell you how much they have used you well. At the beginning of 2014, Joseph Muscat announced the scheme, the European Commission issued a statement, saying that there would be a genuine link. Over the years, they have sold passports as much as they wanted and meanwhile they have not published the names of the buyers of the passport, let alone reassured us of this genuine bond. Don't you realize that they tell you something and then they do something else? This isn't just on passports! In sewage, the sea, in the environment, pump sewage every day. Contracts, public procurement? Everything comes in direct order. Daphne's inquiry? remained on paper. Seveso directive? Put the tanks in Farruġ. The incinerator of Maghtab? They say residents are worried about their health. What is important for Malta to be in Europe if the government then deprives you of its rights.

Mrs President! I appreciate that the Commission has kept its word and joins the sense of urgency for us to work on a European law on the availability of medicines. I come from Malta, for us the joint procurement made in COVID was essential and we want to see it become more systematically. We have to deal with stockpiling. Undoubtedly. Imagine, often in Malta medicines out of stock, whereas the same medicine would catch Italy and France and Germany. We also have an internal and external dimension of this issue. After all, people are talking about availability. Internally, we have the pharmaceutical package that still distributes the market into market authorisations for each country. This is penalising large islands such as Malta. This is supposed to be a single market. My friends, if you come to Malta you will hear very much the word out of stock, in hospital, in pharmacies, out of stock. Let's work together to have a European Medicines Market for all Europeans.

Commissioners, Colleagues, Before going into politics, I said that mental health is not a theme of young people. Today I know it is the most important topic. Young people feel their troubles and that of their peers, they know they are vulnerable. I am the father of three teenagers. My children today have challenges that I haven't had. We spent two hours on television, today from the morning until you sleep with a screen in front of your eyes. As a father, I feel confused: digital skills or addiction? There's no reference! How much it is too much On the computer? Parents don't have guidance. What is best for our children in the digital world? I am linking this to mental health because there are obvious links. Research shows links direct between screen time u depression. Where we had four friends before, you now have Fortnite, TikTok and Roblox. Technology is replacing human connection and young people are increasingly feeling alone. Closing with a question: Should we help young people to socialise? On the other hand, the cigarette'swarnings. We have to do warnings above apps u websites for mental health?

Ms President, I am delighted to see a European Commission active on the operation of internet giants. But I want to see a more proactive Commission. I noticed that many of us spoke about the risks, but we need to talk more about the opportunities. In Malta we say in politics we have to listen to the two bells. But these algorithms will give you more than you already know, consolidating what you already think. Who would be obliged with the algorithms to give you different opinions, a variety of opinions? I would also like to underline the extraordinary value of socials as an alternative platform for businesses. Thousands of European businesses were born and grew thanks to social media. People with disabilities, activists of all kinds, have built a community thanks to social media. So we can have many red lines, security, democracy. But our biggest red line is the freedom of citizens.

Mr President, Commissioner, I greet you. I wish you at the beginning of your mandate the right work and I also wish you to be bolder than before to fight corruption in the countries. I'm talking about everything here. The Maltese people who are seeing the Government steal from public contracts every day: hospitals, phantom works for girlfriends, a power station project in the shadow of Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination. The Maltese people are asking, Mr Commissioner: where's Europe? Where is that shield that we have seen so much with admiration? Mr. Commissioner, you have a mandate in front of you where I and many here are expecting Europe to raise teeth to demise corrupts. We've got to pay money to help others get out of our way. We are paying VAT, we are paying taxes to finance rackets of the most grubbed-up in Malta. Europe must see, first of all, that the laws it already has are not broken without consequence. Let me mention the case of Vitals in Malta - hospitals. They were given three hospitals and four hundred million by concession. With Concession! This is in obvious breach of the Public Procurement Directive. This European law, Mr. Commissioner. A contract of four hundred million to be terminated from day 1. However, the Commission was not summoned, even though I myself, with an official complaint as a citizen, asked her to intervene already in 2021. Colleagues, let's walk the talk. Only then can we really fight corruption in the countries.

Ms President, European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, I start by thanking you for your great work. In the past year, only we have had 398 complaints, inquiries from your office. I also thank your staff because we often see people at the forefront, but behind them there are many, in this case, administrator experts. I thank colleagues, as the rapporteur has said, for working very well in the Committee on Petitions, and I think that the points we consider vital, which unite us, emerge clearly in our work on this report. Firstly, citizens’ complaints are the pillar of the European Ombudsman’s work. It is fundamental that the European Union conveys a message that no one is above the law, not even its own institutions that must be subject to scrutiny in the event of maladministration. This is how we want the institutions to work, having a common front; a common front against abuse of power, against abuse of the rule of law. I underline the work of the Ombudsman, especially the collaboration with the Ombudsmans at national level, the collaboration with the European institutions, including the Committee on Petitions, and it is very important to merge in a single message on access to documents. I think it's time to review the current rules.

Dear colleagues, Commissioner Dalli, if I meet a friend on the street who smokes or vies, I advise him to stop. However, as a politician, I have a duty to protect freedom; freedom - unless we have a valid reason to limit it. Our health and that of our children is undoubtedly non-negotiable, but has the Commission done serious enough research to limit vapes and aerosols in spaces even outdoors? I have studied this proposal and I see that the European Commission itself has doubts as to whether it has a sound scientific basis to tell us not to smoke outdoors or to grandmother vapes. So much so that there was no impact assessment. I believe we must act so that vapes are not presented as something "cool", with many colours and flavors, as sweet as possible. But I want to see more careful action from the European Commission. We need to do a lot more to educate before trying to regulate. I therefore call on the Commission to invest much more in sound research on this subject. After we have done the serious studies, then we come back here again and talk about firm and decisive actions.

Ms President, Daphne for me was a friend. She was a friend of Malta. Her work was a service to democracy. Daphne’s murder is in fact a wound to Malta. The question we need to ask today is how to heal that wound, because the wound is still wide open! Alex Saliba, here, wants us to applaud the Government. Did the Government applaud the sweeping of candles in front of Daphne’s memorial? Do you applaud the Government that the Prime Minister's office obstructs the investigation into Daphne? We had a public inquiry that told us that new crimes are needed to dilute corruption in Malta, including a crime about unexplained wealth. Do you know what the government has done? He placed a Minister who had spent years finding excuses not to do anything, and now that he has withdrawn from politics, he has nominated him for a European Judge. Good Thanksgiving, isn't it? Another example - the inquiry told us that we need to protect journalists. What did the government do? Do you know you're considering criminal charges? What are the keyboards? Criminal libel! So right, then, journalists must be imprisoned, and corrupt politicians must see how to protect them. I close with a call to the European Commission, as did my friend David Casa. The velvet gloves have been removed, and we want concrete action on the rule of law and press freedom in Malta.

Colleagues, I believe that we are Europeans not because we were born in this continent. We are Europeans because we believe that our people command governments, not the other way around. But those who think they can control democracy, they can silence those who challenge them. I was elected from Malta. Malta, where Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered due to corruption. He killed her in order to hide the truth. And now, seven years after this crime, the Government has kept going as if nothing was at all, it has kept working as it was. A public inquiry was held which said radical changes needed to be made in our country, but left it on the shelf. But don't think they will win. Daphne's heirs, journalists, opposition, activists are uncovering corruption scandals day and night. My heart, face the power. Let's strengthen their hands. We have the Media Freedom Act thanks to the Commission, thanks to this House. We have a European law on corruption on this table. Let's work together to use all this tool to move governments.