Misplaced Euphoria

The Times of Malta



The Helsinki announcement that formal negotiations would be started with Malta early in the year 2000 has apparently given the government a boost to its low spirits. The boost has verged on euphoria. It is misplaced for two main reasons.

Firstly all applicants have been so invited. Even Turkey who so far fails to satisfy the democratic credentials for membership has been given a conditional green light to start negotiations. In all no less than 12 countries have been put in the negotiating phase.

Secondly this was all so predictable. In my recent publication `MALTA`S RELATIONS WITH THE EU ` A Realistic Way Forward` which I had penned last August I had written ` Malta`s application for membership is probably being pushed to be promoted to the first wave of new applicants (the ins) joining Poland, Hungary Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus as the countries being actively considered for the next enlargement. This possibly will be decided in December 1999 at the Helsinki Summit of the EU Heads of Government.`

As it so happened Helsinki promoted all applicants. How could Malta be excluded`

So what we should be debating, rather than celebrating, is not the foregone conclusion that Malta would be invited to start active negotiations following the ending of the screening process, but what exactly shall we be negotiating.

How can the government expect to be taken seriously if it has not even appointed its chief negotiator How can the government expect to carry the support of a wide spectrum of Maltese society if it has not delineated what is acceptable, what is negotiable and what is not negotiable.

Some pointed questions will make it clearer. What is Malta`s target accession date` Is it before or after the next election` If before, is Malta ready to accept the entire aquis communitaire in so far as the single market is concerned` Is Malta prepared to accept the starting point being put by the EU that on the single market there will be no derogations and any extended transition phases are to be minimal and short` Are we ready for the full consequences of liberalisation of all monopolies, even natural ones, freedom of movement of goods, services, people and capital`

It is clear that this can only be achieved before next elections at a huge cost in terms of unemployment, which will inevitably mean that support for joining the EU will wane right when most needed, i.e. when the question is put to the electorate in a referendum.

That the EU is wary of this possibility is stating the obvious. In private discussions and in public pronouncements the EU expresses its concern about the fact that Malta is the only applicant country where the support for membership is not only deficient among the population at large, but also among its political class.

The EU clearly sees great benefit for it to have Malta included as a full member but is wary of running the risk of having Malta playing a Norway on it. Hence the pressure which is almost unethically being built on the MLP to reconsider softening its position against membership for the foreseeable future(1).

Such pressure will do more harm than good.` Unlike all other applicant countries Malta does not have compelling political reasons for joining the EU. On the contrary through membership Malta runs the unappetising prospect of seeing its disproportionate political importance being totally neutralised by new decision making rules.` These are the rules which the EU still has to agree upon in the next Inter-Governmental Conference (ICG) of 2000 but which will certainly take away the right of veto from new members.

How could the MLP be expected to soften its position if the EU and Government do not make unequivocal declarations that Malta`s constitutionally enshrined neutrality and non-alignment will be respected and Malta will be allowed to opt out of all institutional arrangements which may infringe such provisions, including the Common Foreign and Security Policy How could the MLP be expected to change its views if the prospect is for Malta as an EU member to have its political importance relegated from that of a sovereign state to one comparable to a` medium sized city in Europe.

Next year`s ICG will prove than in trying to achieve the simultaneous objective of widening and deepening the EU is trying to square a circle. Eventually concessions will have to be made to allowed the concept of variable geometry to prevail in order to allow countries like Malta the option of limited membership. Otherwise accession of some countries, Malta included, would have to be considered as a very long term objective.

Until this happens chasing EU membership without political consensus is destined to a still birth. Until this happens Malta should be using its energies to re-structure its economy and build on existing consensus outside the membership option.