News • 02 February 2003

Cassola describes Partnership as “taking the Mini when you can have the Rolls"

TAL-QROQQ - Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party’s EU spokesperson Prof Arnold Cassola yesterday addressed members of the public to talk about EU membership during a public dialogue organised by the Malta-EU Information Centre at the University of Malta.

Prof Cassola, who is also Secretary General for the European Federation of Green Parties, praised the democratic credentials of the European Union which he said have guaranteed peace, stability, and human rights in the last decades.

Stressing on the disadvantages of non-membership, Prof Cassola said the European Economic Agreement was forcing non-EU states such as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, to foot a EUR500 million bill to partake in free trade with the EU.

"As Prodi said however, a free-trade agreement with the EU, as is being offered to North African states, has special conditions. Everything can be shared except institutions, such as the Commission and Parliament. Now the centrepiece of such a proposal includes a common market, free trade and an approximation legislation. Is this what Labour’s partnership strategy is all about then?, having the EU dictate its conditions without Malta having its say?

"It is like saying you can have a Rolls Royce when instead you want to negotiate for a Mini Minor. It does not make sense."

Asked by MaltaToday whether Eastern European countries will be usurping more economic opportunities from mainland Europe, Prof Cassola said it had to be Malta to expand its export potentialities, with less emphasis being laid on intra-national competition.

"We know have an incentive and financial assistance to restructure our businesses and tackle a market of millions of people. The emphasis has to be made on the diversity of products we can offer, and this means that we have to rush to patent our local foods, and start exporting them to the rest of Europe."

"This is a project in which not less than 25 states will take part, and in future so will Turkey, who want to join the EU, as well as other states such as Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, who have expressed their wish to join.

"We need a strong Europe with a strong foreign policy. If Europe had a stronger foreign policy, it could oppose Bush and his war. If it wasn’t for Europe, we would not have an International Criminal Court, something which George Bush opposed. If it wasn’t for the EU, the Kyoto Protocol would not have been ratified, with Canada and New Zealand roped in as well with us."