Time to Reflect

The Malta Independent



In a 130 page document about Malta`s state of readiness for becoming a full EU member there is nothing which explains in tangible form the benefits which await us for doing so.

In general the report explains to what extent have we deformed our natural characteristics to adapt them to the EU standards and what still needs to be done to achieve complete adaptation by accession date.

Few do in fact realise that the EU in its official documents does not even attempt to make an assessment of whether or not EU membership is good for Malta. Only visiting dignitaries pour on us their wisdom that membership will be very good for us and unless we join now we will not have another opportunity to do so. Occasionally they go further and tell that we really have no alternative and so whether it is good or bad is quite irrelevant. We just have to make the most of it.

`It is indeed wrong that we have brought ourselves in such cul-de-sac` It is indeed wrong that we have brought ourselves in such cul-de-sac.` In the past government made the case that the sacrifices of complying with EU acquis, designed for countries with very different characteristics from our own, were more than justified by the generous funding which EU membership will favour us with, permitting easy financing of the country`s modernisation.

The funding case has now foundered.` The Prime Minister had to admit that the seven million euro` p.a. net benefit indicated for the first three years (and this only if the temporary compensating funding will be accepted by the EU council as otherwise we will be net contributors to the extent of some 25 million euro p.a.) are a mere pittance.

Isn`t it obvious that the EU accession project needs re-evaluation What happened to past assertions that we will join only if we get the right conditions` Were they mere platitudes which could not co-exist with another oft mentioned claim that we really have no alternative`

It is obvious that the urgency for Malta to join is now from the EU side. There is nothing from our side which make it urgently compelling that we should join. `It is only logical to explore them before deciding on an irreversible road which has nothing to justify it but the pretence of our inability to run our own affairs.`

Malta is like no other applicant country.` The East European candidates need EU membership because their large agriculture sector can benefit from EU funding but more importantly because after experiencing 50 years of Russian hegemony they are eager to integrate themselves into Europe`s democratic mainstream lest Russian ambitions re-emerge once they work through their economic problems.

Cyprus has a prior order need for EU membership. They consider it as the only effective lever to push Turkish forces out of their northern territory and re-unify as a single sovereign state with guaranteed rights for minorities. This dream has eluded Cyprus for nearly 30 years.

Malta has no such higher order need neither to move away from an occupied past nor to integrate our territory. Quite the contrary. EU membership could make move forward back into our past where a sovereignty that has to be shared (sharing is very inappropriate description as it tends to imply a 50:50 arrangement whereas in fact our share would be minuscule, almost invisible) leaving us practically no control over our own affairs.

Indeed it is time to stop and reflect. Malta has alternatives. It is only logical to explore them before deciding on an irreversible road which has nothing to justify it but the pretence of our inability to run our own affairs.