What a way to go

“Those of us who are not afraid to stand up and be counted will be there to serve those who have awarded and honoured us with their trust

Firing on all cylinders is my way of bidding farewell to the old year and eagerly greeting the new one. 2018 has been a most active and satisfactory year for many of us within the European Parliament as we fought, and continue to fight, the demons that threaten the very soul of Europe as we have seen it emerging for much more than half a century.

It is a dire test bona-fide representatives have not been afraid to take in the face of a negative, populist, ultra-nationalistic wave roaring across most of Europe over such issues as immigration and long-treasured personal freedoms.

As I look back on this moribund year I am honestly astounded as to how much work has been carried out and, looking forward towards what’s left of the current EP legislature, how much there is left to do. Europe is like a massive business venture – it starts, it needs to be kept up, and has to be managed and maintained as an on-going concern with its highs and lows as they occur in the process.

Unfurling my list of on-going EP activities helps me get to grips with the realisation of a job that is as challenging as it is rewarding in the strict sense of being in the service of the European citizens who, after all, had entrusted me with it on their behalf. I will try to make it less of a boring chore for both writer and reader, but a loaded work schedule offers, indeed, one the opportunity to reflect on another year of endeavour.

My vice-presidency of the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals, for example, is one role I absolutely cherish. My love of animals has been the motivation all along, hopefully sending out the clear message that a growing European awareness is required and encouraged to defend the lives and existence of those creatures that do not have a vote but are part and parcel of the happiness and serene integrity of European families. They have their rights as well as their needs, all of which depend on the aptitude and generosity of those of us who can help get those rights recognised, established and protected. Animals are sentient beings and are to be treated as such, whether they are domestic, farm or wild . Animals have no voice, but we willingly speak up for them.

Besides another vice-presidency I occupy – that of the Committee on Petitions – I am also a member and vice-member of various other EP committees, delegations and intergroups, covering a range of issues and responsibilities such as Internal Market and Consumer Protection, the Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal

Areas, LGBTIQ rights, European tourism Development and Cultural Heritage, Children’s Rights, the S&D Digital Europe Working Group, Culture and Education, relations with the People’s Republic of China, and the ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly among various ad hoc appointments and undertakings that, for me, have made this second and last legislature so excitingly fruitful. I also lead a parliamentary delegation to China to discuss important trade issues of concern to the EU. The culmination of my work was in receiving the MEP of the Year 2018 award for my work in the field of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection.

At the risk of sounding like a trumpet player, I can hardly overlook this year’s great breakthrough for European consumers with the approval, as of May of the new year, of lower and unified rates for calls from one EU country to another. This was a pledge I had made at the moment we had finally negotiated the end to roaming charges, and to see intra-EU capped rates come into effect will be a source of personal and professional joy.

Pretty much during the same period I have been in the nittygritty of parliamentary work on the right of EU citizens to submit petitions to the European Parliament, for non-discrimination between languages, the empowerment of citizens to reduce democratic deficit, in favour of more funding for the development of peripheral areas for education, culture, and sport, stronger action against illegal online content, supporting strays and abandoned animals, stopping the use of EU money for bullfighting and halting the cruel transportation of animals.

A very recent highlight has been the massive EP approval of my report on the legislative proposal complementing EU typeapproval legislation concerning the UK withdrawal from the Union - legislation which protects trade, jobs, consumers and road safety. The European Parliament also voted overwhelmingly in favour of my report on the Single Digital Gateway which will be mandatory across all member states.

Nominating Bjorn Formosa for the European Citizen of the Year Award for 2018 was both a duty and a source of personal and national pride. Seeing him win it was an even greater feeling.

As we go into 2019, I will relish my role as negotiator on the issue of Daylight Saving Time legislation. This is an issue that has already attracted so much media attention, but it is also of prime interest to European citizens everywhere. It is a reflection of a Europe reviewing and renewing its policies as it seeks to not only re-invent itself for the people by the people, but also to make sure that all is done in salvaging the positive and forward-looking attitude of a continent that has still so much to offer.

I cannot fail to mention a sting in the tail of this year’s events my scary experience in Strasbourg during the parliamentary week - having walked just a few minutes before from where the Italian journalist lay dead. We saw his body on the ground, only, at that moment, we did not know why or who.

Seen against the background of the economic and social turmoil of recent years, it may seem to be some kind of “mission impossible”. In truth, it is yet another chapter to be written by the citizens and their representatives, past, present and future, as they weave the image of a new, stronger Europe that resists division, populism and extremism. And those of us who are not afraid to stand up and be counted will be there to serve those who have awarded and honoured us with their trust ... and I will do so until the very last day of my mandate.

Wishing all The Malta Independent’s readers a New Year full of happiness, success and above all, health.