Editorial • 29 September 2002

Toon This Week: Dom’s war game

Mintoff’s facade

One of the oldest tricks in the Dom Mintoff book is his ability to fool his opponents by making them believe he is going in one direction only to change course at the very last minute. He has used this tactic time and again. And what we saw on Monday was a Dom Mintoff using this trick one more time.

Il-Perit tried to woo his audience by stressing more than once that his aim was to challenge government’s negotiations with the EU. He explicitly ruled out the formation of a new political party. But even if for one brief instance he let his real intentions slip through.

Let’s face it, lucid as he may be the man has nothing to offer to the current debate on EU membership. No new solutions or alternatives were put forward on Monday. It was just pure rhetoric explaining the need for Malta to reach an arrangement with the EU on certain issues that benefit both them and us. Very similar to the Labour Party’s partnership option. Take the benefits without the pain.

But the EU may simply be Dom Mintoff’s facade. This is truly a final attempt to create trouble for the Labour Party and Alfred Sant. The octogenarian still finds it hard to mention the Labour leader by name with ample references to ‘dak’. But alone Dom Mintoff does not have the necessary political clout anymore to sway the people in his favour. He is increasingly being viewed as a political hasbeen with a chip on his shoulder. But if il-Perit does manage to rope in others such as George Abela it would certainly spell trouble for Dr Sant. The lion has not roared yet and being the strategist he has always been, Mintoff will select the right time when to let loose his cannon ball. Whether it will cause damage is another issue.

A human tragedy

It is a human tragedy that which is unfolding in front of our eyes with alarming frequency. In just seven days we have seen almost 300 illegal immigrants erroneously landing on Malta’s shores. Their plight is a desperate one indeed.

There is very little Malta can do on its own to tackle such a problem. There is a physical limit to how many detention centres the island can cater for not to mention the strain on the public purse.

In full respect of human dignity the laws must be such that illegal immigrants not asking for refugee status be repatriated back to their country of origin as early as possible. A concentration of frustrated and confined individuals may create security risks thus stretching the resources of the police force and the army.

But the whole issue must be viewed in a wider perspective. Poverty is one of the leading causes for immigration, whether legal or not. This is an issue that has to be dealt with by countries acting in unison.

It is inevitable that the prosperity enjoyed in Europe acts as a magnet for illegal immigrants leaving North African shores. Being at Europe’s southern flank both Malta and Italy are likely to be Europe’s weaker link.

The problems created by illegal immigration have clearly shown that the European Union needs to focus its strategy to ensure wealth creation in North Africa. Neglecting the EU’s Mediterranean dimension would be a very big mistake. In this context Malta can, egoistically, play an important role by spurring the Euro-Med debate. Just like Malta argued in Helsinki in the 1970s that there can be no peace and security in Europe unless there is peace in the Mediterranean, there can be no reprieve from illegal immigration in Europe unless the disparities between Europe and Africa are bridged.