Happy Birthday!

Malta’s membership in the European Union is today one year old. The euphoria of membership is still on our minds but not in our hearts. The tides have turned and who promised us heaven in earth is now preaching sacrifices for the sake of competitiveness and who for forecasted doom and gloom, is now advocating membership. One is amazed as to how things can change in a short span of time.
If things have changed the mentality has not. If our bodies are in the EU, our mind is not. The government’s mentality is still that of pre-membership and some of the Cabinet ministers still cannot grasp what it means to be in the European Union, as otherwise how can they be justified when they complain with certain heads of department on certain practices they are allowing when such practices are in accordance with the rules of the European Union? Do the department heads have to remind the ministers every time that we are now part of the Union?
It is the same with the liberalisation of market forces. The businessmen were almost all in favour of membership but they do not want to put this membership into practice as every time they see a competitor getting in their way, hell breaks loose and they do everything in their power not to allow competition. Thank God that we have the Commission for Fair Trading which we are keeping very busy, as otherwise it would be harder for businessmen to tread on the territory of a competitor. It is a shame that twelve months after membership, the decisions of the fair trading commission are still not made available to the public because legislation does not permit so. I am sure that this is in breach of community law and I augur that our MEP’s look into it.
I shall not delve as to what was promised to us before the referendum and the last general elections. That is history now although the pain is still there and very penetrating. What I shall do, however, is to analyse what we have gained out of these first twelve months of membership. There is no doubt that the first victims of membership were the workers who for the sake of restructuring faced the sack or early retirement, although restructuring was not restructuring at all because the extra workers of one sector were burdened on another sector.
I remember what a priest told me some time ago when he asked the Prime Minister for assistance in his mission. The Prime Minister told him that he can choose any two from the extra workers of the ex-Malta Drydocks and this is what the priest did. However, every time he knocked on the doors of these workers, they all told him that they would not accept the offer because they have cushy jobs that allow them to be home after two hours of work. So much for restructuring under membership!
Many a workers union advocated that working conditions will be strengthened upon membership. However, we all know what is going on. ‘Less pay if you want to keep your job’ seems to be the order of the day – take hotels, construction, security guards, factories, cleaners, and even the government. Obviously, the blame is not put on who was in a hurry to get us in without preparing the country for the consequences of membership but on ‘restructuring’ and ‘competitiveness’ as if these two factors were inexistent prior to membership.
Millions were promised to us upon membership and we are being told that millions are coming our way from the European Union but what is happening is that these millions are - most of the time - being confused with the millions coming from the Italian Protocol. Moreover, the government’s propaganda machine excels when it comes to financial assistance that is coming to Malta from Brussels and it says nothing nor provides information about the millions that we are giving Brussels. I know that many parliamentary questions have been tabled to ask how much Brussels is costing us, but the government is refusing to answer. We, as citizens, have a right to know how much money from our VAT and tax payments has been transferred to Brussels and if the government does not want to inform us, then our MEPs should make it a point to provide us with the information from Brussels. After all, they all promised us ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ as a result of membership.
There is no doubt that Malta would have received more funds from Brussels if it had taken part in many of the programmes that are listed in the EU’s portfolio. It seems that the government is giving the impression to Brussels that Malta can fend for itself without the funds from the European Union. There is no other explanation as otherwise how can government justify refusing to give NGOs the legislative framework they need in order to be able to apply for funding from the European Union. I know of friends of mine who had to register an NGO in Albania (can you imagine – Albania has legislation on non-profit organisations and we don’t) in order to be eligible for funding. This does not make sense and the more the government procrastinates, the more we are losing out on funding.
Moreover, no attempt is made so that we can make the maximum use of the funding that is available for different types of projects within the European Union. Prior to membership, attempts were made by the Malta Council for Science and Technology and they even brought speakers from abroad on project financing and proposals but now, twelve months on, we still do not have a structure wherein the citizen can go and seek help on how to apply for funding. Ireland was a success story because it left no stoned unturned and it is reported that Ireland made the most of what is available in Brussels and it did this by providing good networking between its embassy and business bureau in Brussels and the people at home.
However, I must say that thanks to membership, the government can no longer say that ‘il-hofra hija hrafa’ and ‘finanzi fis-sod’ when they weren’t because Brussels is now the guardian of our finances and it is thanks to Brussels that the government is tightening the belt to the extent that we are now economising on imperative issues such as health and education. Surely this goes against the spirit of membership.
Now I come to the subject of VAT. I am sorry to say but I do not agree about the decision of the Commissioner of VAT to authorise the calculation of VAT on the excise duty of mobile phone calls. If you have not realised, we are being billed VAT on consumption and excise duty. This is against the sixth VAT directive because that directive says that VAT is calculated on excise duty when it concerns goods such as cars, alcohol etc. With all due respect, Commissioner, mobile telephony is not a good and a service and therefore you cannot charge VAT on excise duty and besides, excise duty was never meant to be on services but on goods. But we in Malta are always the exception to the rule! I am sorry to say, but the mobile phone companies cannot hide behind the blessing of the VAT commissioner, and it is their duty to consult their lawyers on the matter. I have already asked two of our MEP’s to look into the matter and I urge you readers to look into the matter and raise your complaints because the flouting of EU rules cannot be allowed to go on. I wish I had Lm400 to spare on a lawsuit against my mobile phone company to give our courts the first taste of EU law!
I left the cherry on the cake for the last and that is undoubtedly the Malta Labour Party who voted against the treaty of membership twelve months ago and twelve months later, is now advocating the European Constitution. The proposed Constitution does not incorporate all that is in the treaty that was negotiated by Malta with the EU - because the declaration on Gozo as a region and the declaration on neutrality have been omitted – and means less voting power than Malta had in the treaty.
I shall not comment further on this, but if the MLP leaders genuinely thinks this stand will give them the passport to an electoral victory at the next general elections, then I must say they either have their heads buried in the sand or they think that they can take us for another ride.
People can be fooled once, but they cannot be fooled all the time! Gonzi has already anticipated this and that is why in the last general conference of his party, he made it clear that he prefers to be honest with the people than win a general election. The Nationalists have already started working on the next general elections and they know that credibility will be the major issue in the electoral campaign!
One year ago, the people voted twice in favour of membership. One year later, the people have a new European treaty, different from the one we voted for, but both the Government and the Opposition have agreed not to hold a referendum. They do not need our votes now and we will not use our votes at the next general elections. And believe me, the number of dissidents in both parties is increasing!