Civil society in Gozo should be the protagonist in decisions involving the well being of students, workers and farmers in an autonomous Gozo regional Council, while the contribution of non government organisations in Gozo should be formalised on a regional level and eventually the Ministry for Gozo would be the executive arm to execute these decisions, said Maltese MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant during a discussion with the theme 'What Gozitans expect from Europe' at Marsalforn, Gozo.
Sant said the aspirations for European social values among Gozitans are similar to other citizens living on islands on the periphery of the EU and that it was paramount for Gozitan civil society to be involved in new solutions for the development of Gozo.
"Gozitan society aspires for European social and economic conditions which meet the needs of youth, workers and the agricultural sector".
Sant said the economy in Malta was performing well, more than 1600 new jobs have been created in the last four years in Gozo, but notwithstading this Gozitan youth are seeking jobs in Malta and elsewhere in Europe.
'We must ensure that the market and conditions of employment in Gozo are at par with conditions in Malta so that young people and workers can find jobs in accordance with their qualifications and skills."
Sant said that in the European Parliament he joined forces with other MEPs from Croatia, Sardenia and Sicility to present one common front on the challenges facing small EU islands.
"Together with a Croat MEP we worked with the EC on a project that provides clean air to EU islands. The Director of the Commission responsible for this project informed us that the EC will fork €10 million to enforce the project after already approving €2 million for the same project. At times I thought this project would not materialise but now it seems like we can move forward on its implementation," remarked the Maltese MEP.
The conference was also addressed by Frank Psaila, an expert on the development of Gozo.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2hmfhKS
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment