Editorial

When the international rating agency, Fitch, issued a warning that a decision to stay out of the European Union could dent the island's creditworthiness, the pro-Europe lobby was elated. It justified what the government had been saying all along. When the agency went on to state that the EU option was more likely to yield to economic benefits, the same lobby went inwardly wild. That is what the government has been saying all along, it wanted to shriek.

There were other points raised to give heart to the local majority that sees Malta as part of the European Union and Malta apart as the greatest disaster that could be visited upon the island. The government itself, too, will have basked in Fitch's recognition of some of its achievements to date: the removal of government intervention and monopolistic and ongoing protectionist measures. And it must have been music to its ears that Fitch acknowledged the implementation of an early retirement scheme for the dockyards as the major step it indubitably is.

The rating agency did not stop there. It doubted that the à la carte agreement the Malta Labour Party would try to negotiate was on the EU's books - "the EU has shown no enthusiasm for this". "Outside the EU, Malta's lack of strategic importance in the modern world would mean the rest of the world could simply ignore Malta". This was clearly a remark without foundation. The fear of the Maltese electorate lies precisely in a contradiction of such a conclusion. Outside the EU, there will be those who will simply not ignore Malta and create a problem for us who live on this small island, unsecured to the continent, open to the buffets of international goings-on.

It has ever been an integral element of the government's pro-EU position that membership will bring with it security from any ill winds that may blow in our direction. The basic fear of Malta being outside the EU is the experienced uneasiness of a foreign policy that has no anchors the country can safely lay down. Those who remember the regime of Mr Mintoff may also recall his penchant for striking deals with this and that country. What passed, in his mind, for a guarantee of the island's security, presented to the majority of the electorate a nightmare with all the possibilities that may arise from that condition.

To be fair, Fitch did not fail to pick up on difficulties that we must still face. The deficit and the debt remain in place. The public sector is still bloated. The privatisation programme has stalled and only the MIA sale went through this year. The Freeport seems to be as far away as ever from a purchase.

Naturally, the opposition's spokesman for finance homed in on these lacunae. The finance minister, Mr John Dalli felt it best to accentuate the positive.

The fact of the matter is that although there remain areas where we need to get our act together, the process of nudging Malta into the modern world is in an advanced state. For our part, we strongly believe that such a process has its natural and final conclusion in membership of the European Union. Outside it, we do not have the wherewithal to compete. Two hundred million people in eastern, north-eastern and south-eastern Europe have arrived at the same conclusion. We are in good company and we need to work harder still.