History in the making

Last Wednesday's vote on the second reading of the bill for the ratification of the European Union accession treaty brings the country a step closer to membership, which takes effect on May 1, 2004. Although the Opposition voted against the bill, it did not call for a division.

It was also last week that the Malta Labour Party formally applied to join the Party of European Socialists, which, as immediately stated by the latter, implies that the MLP is prepared to participate in all EU institutions.

When the Prime Minister wound up the debate on Wednesday, he gave an important meaning to Malta's membership bringing about the dawn of a new spring. This would mean, he emphasised, that there this is first and foremost an opportunity for national unity. Although there were mixed signals and the speeches delivered by the Opposition Leader (at least in part) as well as by Anglu Farrugia (practically in total) were not in their content harmonious with the rest of the tone set during last week's debate, the discussion was a positive experience.

The Prime Minister referred to the outcome of the debate as an injection of energy for the people to realise that they faced new opportunities. There would be difficulties, but the people should be encouraged and remember that they can now make a difference within the EU of which we form part. It is no longer a question of talking about Brussels and Malta. We are an integral part of the European Union and just as of May 1, 2004, we shall share our sovereignty with that of 24 other nations as members of one family with equal rights, the other 24 countries will in turn share their sovereignty with us.

That is exactly how it works, and any talk of 'us' and 'them' in the future can only confuse the issues, and will not help us avail ourselves of the endless opportunities that lie ahead of us. This is history in the making and we can, and shall be, its protagonists, without distinction.

As a country we shall need to go through a learning curve as we set up new structures that can handle these opportunities. Those mechanisms include setting up the office of our Permanent Representative in Brussels, new structures within the ministries as well as developing parliamentary procedures and systems in Malta to analyse those new European Directives and Regulations as would be in the making and where our input will need to be made at the earliest possible, if we wish to be effective.

We do have the limitations of our size, but intelligently we can make an impact that will not be proportionately related. That is why we must understand that our energies need to focus on how to face the new challenges and opportunities together.

Differences of opinion will remain and in a democracy we should not even hope for any less! Just as the EU represents the principle of unity in diversity, and this will be more evident as the Union next year goes through its largest and most historic enlargement, equally in Malta we can appreciate this important value.

As one Opposition MP augured, there will come a time when the political competition will not be as to who is for or against membership, but who can make the best out of the opportunities offered by the new reality.

In the coming weeks Parliament will discuss the ratification bill in committee. Since the bill has required a 'message from the President of Malta', it will be the whole House that resolves itself into committee to discuss the bill in more detail. That can well mean that various MPs from both sides will raise questions on different aspects of what the ratification treaty implies for Malta and Government will deal with the different issues raised to the best of its ability.

It does not mean, however, that any Member can suggest that one provision or other of the treaty can be amended in any way. The treaty is signed and has been endorsed twice over by the people of Malta. It is now up to Parliament to ratify or not to ratify, but not to discuss the various treaty provisions on an assumption that particular clauses can be changed, deleted or added!

The discussion in Parliament forms part of history in the making and follows a process that belongs to our contemporary chronicle. It was on December 5, 1970 that Prime Minister George Borg Olivier signed Malta's association agreement with the European Economic Community.

Later, when the 'future beckoned' for Malta, a few weeks before the closure of the British military base on March 31, 1979, the Nationalist Party executive committee had unanimously approved a motion confirming our country's European vocation. The elections held on May 9, 1987 led the newly elected Nationalist government to formally submit Malta's application to join the EU. This was done on July 16, 1990 by Professor Guido de Marco as Foreign Minister.

The application was frozen between 1996 and 1998 when Labour was in office but was reactivated after the 1998 general election. That led to meticulous negotiations which were finalised in December 2002.

Through a referendum on March 8 this year, the people of Malta approved Malta's EU membership in line with the negotiations carried out, and given our particular political circumstances until only a few weeks ago, the people had to reconfirm their decision through the general elections held on April 12. That led, four days later, to the signing of the treaty of accession by the Prime Minister, Dr Eddie Fenech Adami, accompanied by the Foreign Minister, Dr Joe Borg, in Athens.

The ratification process now going through Parliament forms part of this historic chain of events through which our country is undergoing an important constitutional development. There is no contradiction between our independence, or for that matter between our neutrality and our 'freedom' and this constitutional development, since the EU is a union of sovereign and independent states, some of which have chosen neutrality and all of which enjoy 'freedom', howsoever defined!

Our EU membership represents the epic fulfilment of our independence and I would add that it is appropriate that this development comes about just a few months before our country turns 40. It is said that life begins at 40!

Apart from the constitutional aspect, our EU membership represents a very important economic and social development. In an age of globalisation, it would be a figment of the imagination and sheer fiction to imagine that we could try to do it alone. Co-operation with our countries is crucial and the EU will mean that Malta belongs to a market of 500 million citizens apart from the agreements that the EU has made on behalf of all its members with third countries.

Still, the EU does not promote economic development in isolation from other considerations. Malta within the EU will be strengthening further its social policies since this is one of the most important pillars of European policy. The EU stands for safeguarding the rights of workers, as well as for promoting the best standards in the fields of environment, health and safety.

The concept of solidarity is based on the principle that the people of Europe belong to one family and cannot be allowed to experience different levels of well-being without mechanisms in place to help those areas and regions that need it to participate more fairly in the general level of development that is experienced in the family as a whole.

Moreover, EU membership will provide us with better safeguards for democracy and fundamental human rights.

Developments taking place with the Union itself, not least to adopt for the first time ever a European Constitution, will further consolidate this process.

The people of Malta, through civil society, have participated pro-actively in the accession process. This has been a unique experience and just as civil society has been able to co-own the negotiation and accession process, it will be able to co-own the implementation phase as we begin to avail ourselves of the opportunities brought about by membership.

That is a continuation of history in the making.

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