Embracing the grand European idea

The celebrations have come and gone. The thousands that thronged the bastions, gardens, balconies, roofs, streets and every vantage spot overlooking the Grand Harbour are proof of the enthusiasm that the event engendered. The people did not mind spending half the night out to be eyewitnesses of a rare event. Many recalled the events of September 21, 1964, Independence Day, when the same enthusiasm, eagerness and pride tinged with some apprehension of the future filled the air.

It is neither destiny nor chance that in both events the Nationalist Party was the protagonist of these milestone events, not because it has some God given right or gift to foresee the future. It is the result of its roots and its raison d'etre. The party owes its birth to the concept that we are a distinct European people with our own culture that despite the continuous subjugation to the successive supreme powers in the Mediterranean, was never obliterated. The party was founded to resist the occupying power. It was natural that those of like mind congregated around it. Naturally, at first the educated classes could understand and accept the concept better than those for whom bread and butter issues were vital for their survival.

So, it to the credit of its leaders that the party was born as a popular one and remained so to this day. Its supporters came from all walks of life. The message was transmitted even to those who were illiterate and these were not few in the last decades of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. Though some prominent members of the party in its early years made a fundamental mistake in almost reneging on our language since it was not the best evidence of our European pedigree, others were stalwarts of our language.

The latter idea in time prevailed so much so that we can boast that we made our language an official European language while others in our midst, most prominent among whom the Leader of the Opposition, remained sceptical that the European Union would ever concede so much to this minuscule island.

The success of the PN in these constitutional issues is due to its trust in the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Maltese people. From Fortunato Mizzi to Eddie Fenech Adami the party's leaders stood out by their mission to convince the people to shed the colonially generated national inferiority complex. Two examples will illustrate the notion better.

In the 1950s the present senior citizens witnessed the supposedly revolutionary Dom Mintoff urging the Maltese that their salvation lay in holding on more tightly to the apron strings of the imperial power and proposing integration with the UK, while George Borg Olivier was leading the movement for Independence; and this during the era of decolonisation.

As recently as 13 months ago we all experienced the irony of a foreign trained and self-styled most European of the Maltese, Alfred Sant, opposing membership of the grand European idea on the grounds that we were too puny to "God forbid" join the giants. At the same time we had Dr Fenech Adami, superficially dubbed a conservative, repeatedly expressing his blind faith in the people and spurring us all to shed our apprehensions and phobias and join the rest of the eligible European nations in embracing the project for peace, solidarity and prosperity.

Now the die is cast, for better or for worse. We believe that despite teething problems it is for the better of us all especially of the young. In fact, we have already begun seeing the fruit of our endeavours. Most in the Labour Party believe it is for the worse and so they are out in their battered armour and on their limp mounts to battle the evil European windmills in Brussels, thus defending us once we were so asinine to venture beyond our bastions and leave our magnificent port.

Though we should be happy that all political parties officially have accepted the people's will, and we understand the trauma among Labour supporters and the great efforts by many in the party to bridge the divide, the people cannot be satisfied that the conversion is complete and genuine. Just leafing through the MLP and GWU papers one cannot but notice the explicit criticism of the European Union, the exaggeration of bad news and the concealment of all good news, the blaming of all ills on last year's people's mistaken decision. How can the electors trust converts of convenience who are not convinced of their missions, much less enthusiastic of the opportunities?

On our side we are aware that membership is not an end but a means to an end. In his speech commemorating Worker's Day, (Prime Minister) Lawrence Gonzi showed the same faith in the ability of the people as his predecessors. May 1 was as much a point of arrival as it is a beginning. He again called for a new way of doing politics, a new spring.

It is all of us together who will strive and take decisions to position ourselves to make most of the advantages and opportunities open to us.

As on the morrow of Independence 40 years ago, we are very much conscious of the hard work to be done if we want to reap the benefits. We are determined, European elections or not, to carry on with restructuring in the interest of competitiveness and modernisation of our economy. We are determined to tackle our welfare and health issues so that they will remain sustainable for the rising generations. It is useless for everybody urging us to retrench government expenditure and at the same time advocate new spending when it suits them or to wage a war on waste and government underemployment and then lambaste us when we take courageous decisions.

There is no gain without pain. We are determined to leave no stone unturned to make a success of our European venture.

Dr Deguara is Minister of Health.