Ridiculing themselves

The Malta Independent on Sunday Ridiculing themselves

The preferred strategy of government and its faithful pro-EU membership choir is not to prove that Malta`s EU membership serves our long-term interest better than Labour`s Swiss model. It is to ridicule Labour`s option as an unrealistic pipedream leaving our country with no alternative but to dissolve our sovereignty into the EU political project.

Visiting dignitaries play well to rehearsed lines that Labour Swiss model is the simultaneous co-existence of two mutually exclusive state of affairs. First we are told that Labour is trying to get membership a la carte,` which is neither fair nor possible. They insist that transitory provisions apart, EU membership is a package deal that must be taken in whole and not selectively. And a few breathes later the same spokespersons do not mind contradicting themselves saying they can`t understand why Labour is pursuing a model which has all the pain but not the gain.

If Labour policy is membership a la carte it should have the gains without the pains, not the other way round.` It`s time for critics to stop ridiculing themselves whilst attempting to ridicule Labour.

And yes, Labour`s Swiss model aims to get the gain without the pain. What`s wrong with that` Don`t all governments try to do it` Is not that why Luxembourg is resisting the full disclosure rules for non resident deposits so much pushed for by the France and Germany Is that not why Germany and Austria have blocked for several years the free movement of citizens from East European candidate countries`

Labour`s model is however based on the factuality that one of Malta`s most powerful negotiating points` in international relations is the geo-political importance of our nation. Thankfully, this` remains much bigger than our size. In a membership context this negotiating edge gets sterilised. We would be in a weak position to use it to negotiate the gains without the pains.

So Labour is not seeking membership, not full, not half, not a la carte, not set menu, nor lavish buffet.` Not because Labour is anti-EU.` Not because Labour feels that the EU should be demonised. But because Labour is realistic enough to accept that the gains without the pains can much more possibly be negotiated within the framework of the Swiss model than within a membership model.

Whatever` demands we make they` will not create any economic problems if the EU were to concede them.` We are too small for that.` But within a membership context such concessions would create problems of precedent.` The EU will find it more difficult to concede points to member Malta that it is not prepared to concede to member Poland.

Within a Swiss model the problems of precedent do not arise. `Switzerland` negotiated several bi-lateral agreements which would have never been possible in a membership context.

Those who prefer to put Malta at the negotiating table divested of its natural competitive advantages go at great length to inform that the EU is no longer interest in making bi-lateral agreements but would only place non-member Malta in the context of other existent regional agreements.

This negotiating posturing is being promoted by EU member governments to ensure that they weaken a future Labour government`s negotiating hand. Clearly nothing is offered on a silver platter.

But if Labour rightly believes that Malta`s geo-strategic position means something for the EU that needs to have strategic control over the continent`s southern flank, Labour deserves to be given the chance to prove that they can negotiate better.

After all the Nationalists have not been negotiating much. They have mostly been ticking off changes in legislation which need to be passed to align ourselves with the acquis and can at most expect a few years delay before the implementation of its full rigour. A few years during which the EU will be transformed into a political project with central decision making and dilution of all veto powers. This would leave` us unprotected from the consequences of strategic and economic forces` that in the context of a large political union Malta`s natural assets need to be used for the common good of the Union. The force to` transform Malta into a fully fledged military base would in the longer term become irresistible.`

Our children will then read in future` history books that between 1964 and 20XX Malta was once an independent sovereign state.` Those who try to win the argument by ridiculing Labour`s option will have some explaining to do for their eagerness to mesh Malta into an significant role within a large political union directed to suit realities very different from our own.