Blind Alley

The Malta Independent



Twenty-eight years ago Malta proudly became a Republic through a cross party parliamentary decision, endorsed by a vote of 49 out of 55 units.

It remains an example of how major decisions should be carried through broad-based support of people`s representatives or of the people themselves.

We should not ignore this lesson today as in Copenhagen the final curtain comes down on the process of negotiations for Malta`s accession to EU membership.` After this weekend the negotiations stop and the position crystallises.

`Any doubts as to whether the non-membership route, partnership in Labour`s parlance, is possible and feasible should now be abolished as the EU itself, at its highest levels, is promoting such route for countries that cannot or will not join in membership.` At long last rather than presenting just this or that aspect of the negotiations we will have the whole package to look at and examine.` The people will then have to decide after due and sober explanation.

The issues then arise as to when should the referendum be held and what question should be put.

The last issue is possibly the easier one. The question has simply to ask whether one agrees or not to EU membership on the negotiated terms. The question is not between EU or no EU. The question has to be membership or non-membership. Non-membership does not mean no-EU. It means developing a relationship at a different level which permits Malta to preserve more flexibility and differentiation whilst keeping and consolidating access to EU markets.

Any doubts as to whether the non-membership route, partnership in Labour`s parlance, is possible and feasible should now be abolished as the EU itself, at its highest levels, is promoting such route for countries that cannot or will not join in membership.

The `when` remains a burning issue. It ought not.` The referendum must be a national one where the electorate does not divide itself along party lines. This is a decision which future governments will not be able to reverse once executed.` So it needs to be taken soberly, on an informed basis where facts are allowed to speak for themselves and empty platitudes recognised for what they are. `Holding the referendum before the election denies the necessary serenity for such a monumental decision`

Holding the referendum before the election denies the necessary serenity for such a monumental decision. This is apart from the fact that no government should ever propose a referendum when it has no constitutional right to implement its outcome once EU accession date has now slipped into next legislature.

Suggestions that the PN government is committed to hold a referendum by its electoral manifesto are mistaken. That manifesto and the referendum pledge were based on the premise that the accession date would be 1st January 2003 i.e. well within this legislature. Now that the accession date has slipped into next legislature so must the referendum.

The government must first renew its electoral mandate and then, and only if its mandate is renewed, should it seek a referendum specific confirmation of the general decision taken at the elections.` The Prime Minister suggestion to invert the sequence defies logic, (the specific has to be part of the general not vice-versa ` Zebbug is a part of Malta not Malta part of Zebbug); is motivated by pure party political expediency, forcing him to put the cart before the horse. It is likely to drive us into a blind alley, accentuating rather then ending the excessive state of indecision.

Alfred Mifsud