Being there!

Di-ve Being there!

I was there!` It was cold and drizzling rain but with my two year old son on my shoulders I was determined to be there, to be witness to history as it was being written.

It was a matter of pride.` After so many years of colonialism and 15 years of` neo-colonialism finally the country had reached the objective to detach itself from its economic dependence on its military values. We were proud that the quiet revolution was achieved in peace without any bloodshed and it was being translated into enhanced economic well-being for the population at large.

Twenty three years later I will be there again.` . That little boy is now a 6 ft plus 25 year old and following his dad`s steps is the president of the youth division of the Labour Party.

As for myself after 17 odd years working in the back office of the MLP,` I am now an official candidate of the MLP for the next general elections seeking to form a strong part of the winning team which is destined to carry Labour to new glories.

I will be there this time not with` pride but with fear and trepidation It is the fear and trepidation in my heart that has forced me to take the step which I have long avoided. The fear that we are gradually slipping back to our pre-1979 days. That the Trojan horse of economic mismanagement and spending laissez-faire` has rendered dormant, if not dead, our national will to stay in command of our own destiny as much as is possible in an economically inter-dependent world.

The fear that we are losing confidence in our ability to run our affairs in our own interest and that we need the big daddy of the EU to protect us from our ourselves.` The concept that we need to join the EU to impose upon us the discipline that we cannot find the political will and savoire-faire to impose on ourselves.

This is indeed a pity. Former President Buttigieg who presided that eventful ceremony is long departed and has his deserved monument at Blata l-Bajda. Dom Mintoff is thankfully still with us but twenty three years have left their mark. He no doubt deserves the tallest monument any Maltese will ever have to mark the apex of the fighters for` Maltese sovereignty from Vassalli to Dimech. But whilst Mintoff was the freedom fighter who achieved all he worked for in 1979 he did not have the properties to lead this country to further post-freedom economic prosperity as Lee Kwan Yu had for Singapore. Even worse he did not realise that there comes a time when he has to let go.` Yet whatever his failings,` nothing will change his greatness leading to the achievement of 31st March 1979.

Let` all Maltese who really believe in Malta as a sovereign island state, whatever their political beliefs,` be there next Saturday to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of Freedom Day. We will be there to honour Malta`s freedom not to demonise the EU.

Indeed I can look forward to Malta being a member of the EU but only if and when the EU chooses for itself a model which provides for respect for diversity, which allows flexibility for co-operation at different levels whilst preserving for member states the permanent right to opt out of the provisions which do not suit their realities. For a future time when EU members formally acknowledge that Malta could retain its sui generis neutrality and will respect its commitment in the constitution that it will not serve as a military base and will not host foreign warships in its port and defence hardware and personnel on its land.

In the meantime the partnership which the MLP is seeking with the EU was given substance by the EU itself in the Barcellona summit. Quoting paragraph 52 of the Barcelona Presidency Conclusions proves the point.

52. EURO MEDITERRANEAN FINANCIAL CO-OPERATION

The European Council reiterates the crucial importance of the Mediterranean region and its determination to develop the Euro-mediterranean partnership. In this connection, it welcomes the decision by ECOFIN Council on a reinforced Euro-mediterranean Investment Facility within the EIB, complemented by the Euro-mediterranean Partnership arrangement and EIB representative office located in the area.` On the basis of an evaluation of the Facility`s performance, and taking into account the outcome of consultations with our Barcelona Process Partners, a decision on the incorporation of an EIB majority owned subsidiary dedicated to our Mediterranean Partner Countries will be considered and taken one year after the launching of the Facility.

Rather than wasting so much time and resources to adhere to an acquis communitaire totally unfit for our realities,` we should really be lobbying for Malta to become the host of the EIB Mediterranean area office,` to take maximum benefit of the Facility and to take a leading role in the formation of the envisaged subsidiary. Opportunities have to be grasped when they happen.

As a` tangible meaning to` being there next Saturday I will be lobbying with the EU in this direction to give substance to the partnership concept without excluding membership if circumstances would change to permit membership to be in Malta`s own interest.