Peter Agius vows to be ‘Olympian’ MEP Malta needs to keep up with EU laws

The PN candidate for Europe Peter Agius has formally launched his campaign for the European elections, in a meeting he held with MPs, stakeholders, NGOs and unions.

A former head of the European Parliament’s office in Malta, Agius has worked in the European institutions for the last 20 years, and has been campaigning since contesting the last election in 2019.

“After making over 900 home visits and 17 town-hall meetings around Malta and Gozo in the last year and a half, I collected the aspirations of Maltese families in five main points that I will work on if people entrust me with their vote on 8 June,” Aigus said.

At his press conference, themed ‘What can I do for you as an MEP?’, Agius spoke about adapting European laws to the needs of Malta as an island state, increasing the share of EU opportunities for Maltese youths and organisations, stepping up the fight against corruption in new ways, more EU funds for Gozo, and the implementation of European rights and standards.

Agius said working in Europe was like participating in the Olympics where each country sends the best and most prepared athletes to get the best result.

Key among Agius’s priorities was enabling Malta anticipate the developments in Brussels before they become laws that may affect Malta badly. “We need to act earlier and carefully; study how European laws will affect us because once proposals become law it will be too late,” Agius said, sharing a number of examples – such as transportation rules – of negative outcomes from EU laws.

Agius also committed himself to increase EU opportunities for Maltese students and youth organizations, apart from the continuous fight against corruption through European laws and working with OLAF and EPPO, making a continuous emphasis on Gozo in committee work as well as European funds to improve connectivity.

Agius emphasised the need for European rights and standards to be properly implemented in Malta. “It is not enough to have the highest European environmental standards on paper but then throw sewage into the sea. It is not right to live in a Europe that is supposed to have the highest democracy but then press freedom is under threat. I will see that the rights we achieved when we joined the EU are put into practice, even by empowering organisations and citizens who want to fight for their rights.