Editorial • 23 March 2003

A guarantee that we will not get in

Do we ever learn? And if when we do, do we do anything about it?

Yesterday, the leader of the Opposition announced a new Labour government would negotiate a partnership agreement with the European Union and then return to the electorate. Dr Alfred Sant said the electorate would be given the possibility of choosing between partnership and ‘full’ membership as negotiated by the government. The time frame remains unclear, but it is obvious that we would have missed the boat by then.

The proposal is akin to the situation of a gigolo who agrees to marriage, but at the very last moment suggests an open relationship with the option of marriage should the need arise.

Needless to say such an arrangement is not only surreal, but also selfish and one-sided.

The leader of Opposition is attempting to achieve a middle of the road solution, but it is no solution at all.

It offers nothing in the way of certainty other than the guarantee that Malta’s membership bid will be lost – albeit for the foreseeable future.

We at MaltaToday have said this and we will say it again, we are interested to have the best possible government for this small republic, but at this point in time what interests us most is getting Malta into Europe. If the Nationalist Party believes it has a God given right to rule this country, it is wrong. But that does not mean that for the sake of changing governments, we should dispose of our future.

What the leader of opposition is proposing is an unthinkable alternative that will leave us out in the cold.

Not being in the EU now would spell disaster.

Disaster will come in the form of economic stagnation and the shock wave that will follow when all the work carried out in the accession drive has to be redrawn and erased.

What the leader of opposition is suggesting is not credible. We would have liked to hear him state that he will change tack. But his opposition to Europe is as solid as it comes.

It is a sad scenario, where many Labourites and non-Nationalists will have to weigh their options and face having to vote for the Nationalists to get into Europe.

Needless to say, the Nationalists acknowledge this fact. Having little choice is a sad situation that should not present itself in a democracy, but then one wonders whether we have come to fully understand the rules governing democracy. If the squabbles over eligible and valid voters, used as an excuse to rubbish the referendum result of 8 March are anything to go by, some sectors of the population have failed to grasp democracy’s essence.