Labour MEP Miriam Dalli has called out an anonymous profile for suggesting she visit a shopping mall instead of write reports about lowering carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. 

Dalli recently presented an ambitious report to the European Parliament’s environment committee which proposes that CO2 emissions from new cars be slashed by 25% as of 2025 and by 50% as of 2030. 

However, a person with the pseudonym ‘Free Thinker’ commented on MaltaToday’s article about the report that Dalli is just “a pretty young lady” who would be better off going shopping at the Anspach Shopping Mall in Brussels, while letting “the experts” worry about car emissions. 

And Dalli didn’t let the comment go unnoticed.

“To the person who identifies himself as ‘Free Thinker’, and thinks that women are just “pretty” and “young”, I say a big THANK YOU for confirming the stereotypes that some people are comfortable with and to confirm to all why we need to work more to address such misogyny,” Dalli said. “I assure you I am not a fan of shopping malls, so I leave such ‘joys’ to you and I will continue doing my job with the determination I always work with.”

Dalli is leading the Labour Party’s new LEAD initiative to attract more women into politics and has already fought off sexist arguments against the programme. 

In her European Parliament report, Dalli urged the European Commission to be more ambitious about its clean vehicle emission targets – which currently stipulate CO2 emissions from new vehicles across the EU must be cut by 30% when compared to 2005. 

Dalli urged the European Commission to increase its 2030 target to 50% and to introduce a mandatory interim target of 25% for 2025, so as to send out a strong signal to car manufacturers to start producing more eco-friendly vehicles.

The report also calls for the introduction of real-world CO2 emission tests, new rules on the reporting of data from fuel consumption meters, and the revision of EU directives to provide drivers with accurate and comparable information on the fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and air pollutant emissions of vehicles on the market.

READ NEXT: Miriam Dalli Launches Innovative Plan For 50% Of PL Candidates To Be Female

Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]