In an article in the Malta Independent of the 16 February 2008, Austin Gatt would have us believe that Sant would take us out of the EU if elected. http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=64998
Perhaps Gatt has forgotten that over the past year the Maltese Government told us that it has been strenuously discussing, lobbying or whatever with the EU for assistance with the problem of illegal immigration. Nobody has implied that because Malta was or presumably still is lobbying the EU, it wants to opt out of the EU.
Alfred Mifsud rightly points out that ”it is very doubtful if any of these (temporary derogations) can be renegotiated or extended unless we can trade them for our consensus on some crucial EU decision. Such events can hardly be pre-planned but have to be exploited as and when they arise using the necessary combination of negotiating skill and diplomacy”.
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=64951
It is very significant that for whatever reason Malta chose to throw away its only bargaining chip without a whimper and just before the general elections through the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. This was ratified without even a discussion let alone consultation with the electorate. The ratification of the treaty was approved by both sides of parliament. Malta was the second country in the EU to ratify the treaty. An opportunity for leverage was therefore lost. It seems to me that the MLP are keen to bury the EU issue and ratified the Treaty without any ado.
Therefore no matter what Austin Gatt would have us believe, the EU is no longer an issue of either of the major parties.
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2 comments:
I am very disappointed at the lack of consultation regarding the Lisbon "Reform" Treaty.
Preferably, we would have had a referendum. But I would have been happy even with a constructive debate - highlighting what areas of sovereignty we'll be loosing and how much our say will be affected within the EU.
The problem with the EU not being an issue anymore is that people aren't discussing where there needs to be discussion, and everyone is afraid of criticising where there are areas to be criticised.
I agree with you about the need for discussion about this treaty. It is an important replacement to the failed EU constitution. I fail to see why Malta had to be among the first to ratify the treaty.
I think that the MLP approved this treaty hurriedly for political expediency in order not to allow the PN to attack them with anti-EU bias. Unfortunately we are the losers in this.
My arguments are, first, that the PN is barking up the wrong tree by trying to tie the MLP to an anti-EU stance. Secondly both parties threw away their only bargaining chip if they want assistance from or negotiate something with the EU. Sant cannot be taken seriously when he says that he wants new discussions with the EU on the shipyards etc.
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