Friends of the Earth Malta today welcomes the support of Arnold Cassola (AD), Carmel Cacopardo (AD), David Casa (PN), Marlene Mizzi (PL),Miriam Dalli (PL) for its Politics for People campaign.
The Politics for People campaign asks candidates and political parties standing in the European elections on the 24th May to “stand-up for citizens and democracy against the excessive lobbying influence of banks and big business”.
Martin Galea De Giovanni from Friends of the Earth Malta says: “We are delighted that these five candidates decided to join our campaign and take the pledge. We hope that, if they are elected, we will be able to work with them to make Brussels a more democratic place and somewhere which is less reliant on the excessive power of corporate lobbyists.”
Campaigners have long been concerned with the power that corporate lobbyists in Brussels have over the policy-making process. There are estimated to be up to 25,000 lobbyists active in Brussels and big corporations, lobby consultancies and law firms spend hundreds of millions of euros every year to ensure that EU policy-making meets the needs of big business, rather than the needs of citizens.
In the past few years at the European level, the processed food industry has defeated proposals for health labels on packaging; the big banks have avoided effective regulation after the financial crisis; internet firms have watered-down data privacy laws; and EU trade deals have consistently put profits before people. The Politics for People campaign believes that this situation needs to urgently change.
Martin Galea De Giovanni from Friends of the Earth Malta continues: “We hope that this endorsement will encourage other candidates from all political parties to sign-up to our pledge. Any candidate or citizen wishing to find out more about this pledge and how they can get involved should visit our campaign website at: https://foemalta.org/actnow/politicsforpeople”