Mifsud Bonnici campaigns on, laments 'poor' debate

Deploring "the poor level of debate" in Parliament on the EU Constitution, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici yesterday said the Campaign for National Independence would continue to campaign until the people were convinced of his point of view.

These people would in turn force political parties to re-negotiate Malta's EU accession treaty, he maintained.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici, the CNi chairman, complained that parliament had not even bothered to discuss the most salient points of the EU Constitution, such as the clause that put it above the Maltese Constitution.

"This goes against the Maltese Constitution and is illegal," he insisted.

Asked if he was contemplating instituting a constitutional court case over the matter, he said a case could not be filed because the EU Constitution had not yet come into effect, so the courts would throw out the case on these grounds.

It was also rather strange that Parliament, which should reflect people's will, was unanimous about the ratification of the EU Constitution when opinion polls showed there was a considerable amount of opposition locally, he added.

"I am not saying Parliament should have agreed with us. I am merely saying they should have at least debated the arguments we have been bringing forward and the vote should have reflected a degree of opposition," he said.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici argued that opposition to the EU Constitution was present in many countries and even in Luxembourg, where people are practically unanimously in favour of EU decisions, 43 per cent were against this time.

He held that the fact that the French and Dutch had rejected it, as the British were likely to do, meant that the EU Constitution was dead and Parliament in Malta had wasted its time ratifying it.

Asked why he was still campaigning once he considered it dead, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said both the government and the opposition had failed to inform the people about the negative effects of the Constitution and the CNi was duty bound to do so.

"We will not lay down our arms as they want us to do. We shall intensify our campaign to inform people why the EU Constitution is harmful. Eventually, more and more will come to our point of view and agree that it would be better to re-negotiate those aspects about which we were not aware when we signed the accession treaty.

"The 118 Labour party delegates who are aware of the harm and who voted against at the MLP general conference will also grow in numbers and the decision might be overturned at another general conference," he said.