During a press conference yesterday with leading German Green Party MEP candidate Reinhard Buetikofer, Arnold Cassola said he was surprised by the announcement of the shelving of the transport project in Gozo. He maintained that the government is just paying lip service to reform and sustainability and just thinking of the short-term. He asked, “What will the transport minister tell children who suffer most from air pollution?”

“The government is coming up with reports and projects, some of them copied from others, such as the AD eco-Gozo proposal but then fails to implement them.” He said that a Green New Deal will create jobs in Malta too in various sectors – energy, manufacturing, agriculture, waste reduction, recycling and management, education and transport. He said that climate change is a real and present challenge and insisted that while others just pay lip service to the environment and people’s health, the Greens and AD in the European Parliament walk the talk.

German Green Party lead candidate for the MEP elections is in Malta to support AD’s campaign for the European Parliament. Yesterday he delivered the keynote speech at a seminar on NGO participation in a democratic society organised by the Green European Foundation with the collaboration of AD affiliated Ceratonia Foundation.

He addressed a press conference together with AD Chairperson and MEP candidate Arnold Cassola and party PRO Ralph Cassar.

Reinhard Buetikofer said “I am grateful to AD for inviting me to participate in their election campaign. AD is the most European Party in Malta and Gozo and the country deserves to have a Maltese Green MEP. We are offering a Green New Deal to society and to the people of each and every European Union country. To all those who beleive we need a new start to combat the fianancial and climate change crises we are facing.”

“The Green New Deal proposed by the Greens is not a pipe dream – various studies such as by consulting firm McKinsey shows that a Green New Deal can create millions of jobs all over the European Union. 5 million new jobs in the next five years is a realistic and reachable target. This is also proven by our experience in the governing coalition in Germany between 1998-2005. The German experience shows that green investment in a green economy can and does create jobs. 250,000 jobs in Germany were created in the renewable energy sector alone thanks to policies and legislation initiated by the German Green Party in government.”

Reinhard Buetikofer added that the Green New Deal also addresses the growing gap between the rich and the poor and the need to regulate better the financial market to avoid a repeat of the serious financial crisis we are in because of recklessness and a laissez-faire attitude.

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