Editorial • 26 January 2003

Leaping into the unknown

Yet another U turn

There is a code of conduct in place during the press conferences and media events organised by the Labour party. This newspaper relayed off a letter to Jimmy Magro Secretary General of the Malta Labour party asking him to excuse us if we ignore his code of conduct. We see he code of conduct as a direct affront on the liberty of the press.
Yesterday, talk in the media was dominated by Dr Alfred Sant’s letter written to Dr Fenech Adami.
Dr Sant is now stating that he will respect a referendum if it is held after the national elections and if the percentage of those voting ‘yes’ will be representative of 60% of all the votes cast.
This is crass opportunism and calculating.
His agenda is very clear.
He knows that a majority of the Maltese population favour European Union accession but he knows that it does not exceed the 60% mark, so hence his proposal.
But worse, he also knows that a referendum held now will favour the Nationalist party in the national election.
So, he has chosen to back track and argues that a referendum is a good thing after all and to change his position that the election should be binding.
This state of affairs calls for uncalculated retaliation.
Dr Sant this cannot be. You cannot believe in one thing in the morning and say the complete opposite in the evening.
You cannot be against VAT personally but endorse it as party leader. If you disagree with a policy taken up by your party then you cannot possibly lead that party.
And you cannot say the referendum is worth nothing if held before an election but makes jolly good sense if organised after an election.
And you cannot state that the election was binding then but will not be binding now.
Here in the media, we are accused of being stooges and indeed by accepting any code of conduct we could easily be relegated to notice board reporters, so please do not blame us if we put forward valid questions.
Here in the media we live in earnest for a better future, one were diversity, pluralism and the quality of life remain fundamental pillars.
If we are to accept Dr Sant’s line of thought, then we will not only lose the chance of becoming Europeans, but might just as well lose out on reason and sanity.

In the corner

On Friday, David Casa the elegantly dressed spokesman for IVA Malta fl-Ewropa reminded Manwel Cuschieri that one does not throw stones in glasshouses. He remarked that Mr Cuschieri had been the one to state that Malta would not have a commissioner, that the Maltese language would never be an official language, that there would be barriers for buying property in Malta and so many other statements that Mr Cuschieri rams down the throats of his voracious listeners.
Yet, the most poignant of all was the revelation concerning the agreement between former foreign minister George Vella and the European Union in April 1998 which further illustrates our understanding of how far Labour got in getting Malta a deal of commitments without benefits.