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Does the Constitutional Treaty of the European Union make us a colony, where our sovereignty, constitution and neutrality become mere formalities? As a 12-year old I felt proud in Floriana one midnight in September, watching the Maltese flag replace the Union Jack. I did not understand what was going on. I knew it had something to do with independence. But what did that mean?
I started discovering seven years later reading a lot about the efforts of countries in Asia and Africa to become free and run themselves instead of being controlled by Britain, France, Belgium or Holland.
So in a December downpour when I was 22 I could understand more what happened when I joined the crowd assembled outside the palace in Valletta to welcome the birth of the Republic.
A Maltese finally became Malta’s head of state and the formality of the 1964 Independence was given much more substantial meaning.
At the end of March 1979 I went with my friends to Vittoriosa to celebrate the closing down of the British naval and air base in Malta.
I was happy to live at a time when our country became a sovereign republic free from foreign military, naval and air bases. I do not want the clock turned back. I do not want us to rewind our history and go back to being a small colony used by bigger states for their own strategic interests. And I must admit I wore a black top and a pair of black trousers as my personal symbolic gesture of mourning on the eve of Malta’s joining the European Union in May 2004. I like Europe a lot, love European literature, culture and music, support the European political values of democracy, liberty and equality. I would have preferred us to be very close to the EU without being locked into its structures. This is a complex issue and should never be reduced to any banal simplifications. But briefly I felt that a tiny island state’s restricted space for manoeuvre to promote its interests should not be restricted further by rules and regulations shaped mostly by the interests of bigger continental countries.
I campaigned wholeheartedly for partnership with the EU. But I had agreed with the Labour Party that we would respect the decision of the majority of the citizens in the general election of April 2003. The majority chose EU membership. In the following months the Labour Party kept its promise.
I thought of all this when I took part in some of the meetings held by the Labour Parliamentary Group to discuss the Constitutional Treaty of the EU, its implications for us and the position to be taken in parliament during the debate and vote on the Constitutional Treaty.
A very serious debate took place in the Labour Parliamentary Group and six issues were addressed. Is the EU Constitutional Treaty supreme over our Constitution? Is our national sovereignty being corroded and emptied of ay real power? Do we run the risk of losing our neutrality and be made to join a military alliance? Is Malta’s say in the EU institutions going to be insignificant and powerless to safeguard our national interests? How should Malta ratify the EU Constitutional Treaty: through a vote in parliament or through a referendum? How will the Labour Parliamentary Group vote?
Eight long meetings were held to discuss these issues. We started off with discussion papers prepared by Dr George Vella on the political considerations, by Dr Joe Brincat and Dr Paul Lia on the legal implications and Dr Edward Zammit Lewis on the ratification process of the Treaty in the other 24 member states. Then other members decided to present their papers as well: Dr Anglu Farrugia, Dr Joe Sammut, Dr Gavin Gulia, Dr José Herrera and Mr Leo Brincat.
At no point did the discussion deteriorate in some fundamentalist confrontations between Europhiles and Europhobes, black and white, right and wrong. All around the table had one overriding concern: how to safeguard and promote the national interest of our tiny young state. I am sure that the same concern will drive the debate and decision to be taken by the National Executive and eventually the General Conference of the Labour Party.
The white band
“Every single day, 30,000 children are dying as a result of extreme poverty. 200,000 people die every single week from preventable diseases. It is not chance or bad luck that keeps people trapped in poverty but human-made factors like the unjust global trade system, an unsustainable debt burden and insufficient and ineffective aid.”
Vince Caruana believes “it does not have to be this way and in the year 2005, we have the resources, knowledge and opportunity to end this shameful situation. It is time to say ‘enough is enough’, and campaign for urgent and meaningful change in trade, debt and aid.”
Vince has helped set up the StoPoverty! - Neqirdu l-Faqar!, a coalition of 17 Civil Society Organisations who believe in ending poverty. Trade unions, development NGOs, and environmental NGOs together with concerned individuals and campaigners, StoPoverty has created six working groups on issues as diverse as education, lobbying, white band days, programme of activities, press and website design.
Vince goes on to say that the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is a worldwide alliance committed to obliging world leaders to live up to their promises, and to make a breakthrough on poverty in 2005. It is an opportunity for all of us, together, to demand that world leaders act against poverty.
The Global Call to Action against Poverty is made up of national campaigns around the world, and StoPoverty! - Neqirdu l-Faqar! is the local campaign. The campaign is focusing on the Millennium Development Goals (and a major increase in the quantity and quality of aid), justice in trade and debt cancellation.
Vince explains: “According to the 2005 Eurobarometer, 88 per cent of people in Europe have never heard of the Millennium Development Goals, four years after they were adopted.”
These goals are: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and build a global partnership for development.
Vince says that “more and more civil society organisations are contacting us weekly, and the alliance is set to grow. However, we are sure that there are many more organisations and individuals that share the aims of the campaign. We also need more helping hands to make the aims of the campaign more known.
“The ultimate beneficiaries of such a Global Campaign ought to be the more than a billion of our fellow men, women and children who are subjected to the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty.”
Vince is optimistic: “We know that there are thousands of people in Malta and millions across the world who believe that poverty should be eradicated. If all of these people act together, we can force world leaders to do more.”
The symbol of this campaign is a simple white band worn around the wrist, arm or anywhere that it can be seen. “Wearing the white band is about sending a message that you want poverty to be stopped. On the 1st of July we want all Maltese citizens to say no to poverty by wearing the white band. We will be holding a whole day of activities in Valletta to raise awareness on the themes of the campaign, but in particular to ensure that world leaders keep their promises to eradicate poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”
The white bands can be home made or are available from the campaigners at info@stopovertymalta.org.
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