'A letter from Alfred Sant'

Since the close of negotiations on the terms of Malta's entry into the European Union, the country's organisations and associations, entrepreneurs, professionals, opinion-leaders and trade unionists - with only one or two exceptions - have spoken publicly in favour of membership. They have spoken this way not because they have been bribed, blackmailed or threatened, as has been claimed by the deputy leader of the Labour Party, but out of genuine concern for the future of Malta and for the destiny of its people.

Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition and those who surround him have embarked on a campaign of fear, suspicion, resentment, envy and hatred, in which the facts are distorted, mutilated, omitted or replaced with untruths. It is a campaign that holds to ransom what should be the considered destiny of this country.

I was particularly appalled when I read a "personalised" letter sent to me by Alfred Sant, at my home address - a letter he no doubt sent to every other government employee. He started by telling me that if Malta joins the EU, I would no longer be able to work more than eight hours overtime in a week. Yet, there is nothing in EU legislation that prevents employees from working the overtime hours they wish to. EU legislation is not there to prevent people from working when they want to, but to prevent them from being exploited.

Dr Sant also said in his letter that workers from Europe would steal my job and the jobs of other Maltese - and this when his parallel prophesy is that the Maltese economy will collapse, prompting a reasonable observer to ask why, in that case, would anybody come here in search of work. With the growth generated by membership, the job market will become far more interesting for the Maltese themselves - and this not just for those with a university degree or professional training but even for those seeking ordinary employment. Compare this with the plans Dr Sant and those around him have for us: low wages to maintain a cheap labour pool, so as to keep us "competitive".

Dr Sant ignores the reality of a situation in which any Maltese who now wants to work in Europe must struggle for permits that are refused in 99 per cent of cases. These are not people being forced to emigrate but those who want the experience of life and work outside Malta, at least for a short while. If we join the European Union this will be possible for them as from May next year. If we do not join, they will have to depend on being "good enough", which is how the Labour Party mystifyingly puts it in its newspaper advertisements.

In his letter to me, Dr Sant also ignored the fact that we have negotiated a special exception for Malta and will be able to refuse the entry of EU citizens for work purposes, right up to 2011, and even after that, if the job market is disrupted.

Dr Sant warns me that VAT will be slapped onto food and pharmaceuticals. He appears oblivious to the fact that these will continue to be exempt from VAT (which, incidentally, would be at five per cent, and not the horrific rates being bandied about by Labour) until 2010. If other member states still have VAT exemptions on that date, it will again be looked into. The necessary steps will also be taken to ensure that there is no adverse effect on the cost of living.

The most disturbing untruth in Dr Sant's letter, though, was the assertion that we would all be much better off with his hypothetical notion of "partnership". This when not even he appears to know what he means by the term and when he has said he is quite relaxed about the prospect of waiting for another 10 years in a vague attempt at achieving it, while the country's prospects hang in the balance. He ignores the fact that he has been told repeatedly by those with whom he must negotiate that what he wants is just not possible. He has brushed off Romano Prodi, insulted Günter Verheugen and twisted what he has been told publicly by EU governments and privately by fellow Labour and social democratic politicians.

At this turning-point in our country's history, we are being asked to decide between truth and fiction. It is a crucial decision because we will not be asked to take it again. Virtually the whole of Europe will be united next year. The economies of those we now look down upon as "poorer than we are" will grow to become forces to be reckoned with. If we do not want to be on the outside, looking on at their success with envy and regret, when we vote on Saturday there is only one way of deciding which direction Malta will take.

Mr Cachia Caruana headed Malta's negotiating team during Malta's accession talks with the European Union