Assertion is no proof!

The Malta Independent

Assertion is no proof

As the number of undecided` falls, the pro and anti EU membership factions are pitted neck to neck .`

I draw two reflections. This division does not augur well for the taking of an irreversible decision which is expected to last eternity. Secondly the pro-EU faction is hardly keeping up with the anti `EU membership campaign whose basic` means of communication` are the MLP media which I have the honour to chair, totally funded by commercial revenues. Compare this to the publicly and generously` funded government `information` campaign.

The pro-EU campaign seems to be shifting from persuasion to assertion to sustain` its case. But assertion is no proof. Quite the contrary,` often assertion is used when the argument cannot be delivered by reasoning and persuasion.` Assertion and reason are often inversely related.

So we are hearing myths from the pro-EU camp. The last one is that Labour`s position against Malta`s membership is weakening the government`s negotiating position. Quite the contrary! If anything, Labour`s position should strengthen the government`s negotiating hand in getting concessions which would make the final package more appetising.` `Probably, this is hedging to continue blaming Alfred Sant and Co for rain, shine and in-between.

A long standing myth is the assertion that Labour Swiss model is unreal, cannot deliver the bacon and is a road leading to nowhere. It is presented as a sort of membership a la carte which visiting foreign dignitaries quickly write-off as a figment of Sant`s imagaination. .

Labour`s Swiss model is realistic and practical. It is certainly no membership a la carte.` It is underpinned by two major pillars of reasoning.` The political pillar is that as a small country with strategic importance much greater than our size, we must preserve this` negotiating card permanently close to our chest rather that give up this only edge which has stood us well in international relations. If we let our country get dissolved into a much larger political project in time we would be relegated to an outlandish region not in control of its international standing.`

The economic pillar is that we must use our smallness to our advantage and move with agility to position ourselves slightly different from our much larger neighbours whilst keeping open the access to their markets through a bilateral agreement for a free trade area (which should` in no way prohibits us from entering into free trade agreements with other economic zones).` We must not allow ourselves to have to beg for derogations purely to keep doing what we are already doing.

On these two pillars Labour`s Swiss model can deliver wealth and prosperity founded on preservation of our sovereignty. It can deliver economic comfort and political pride. Rather than bad mouth it, critics should make some effort to understand it.