Spaghetti reasoning

The logic displayed by the anti-EU camp is clearly in a class of its own.

On the one hand, according to them, we are capable enough to "go it alone", not join the EU, and compete in the wider world; on the other hand if we do join the EU and are on a level playing field with everybody else in that (smaller) market, then we are incapable of competing with them. In one breath they say that we should not join the EU as prices will go up; in the next they argue we should be against prices going down, as they will do inevitably if we join. This dialogue is clearly schizophrenic.

Emanuel Cefai's contribution (February 15) displays this characteristic. In his letter he also insults both Maltese producers and Maltese consumers, in other words, everybody!

He suggests that unless Maltese pasta were a third of the price of foreign pasta, then nobody would buy it. Is this not insulting to Maltese producers? Does Mr Cefai think Maltese pasta is so bad that nobody would touch it unless it were virtually given away? If so, he then proceeds to insult Maltese consumers by suggesting that they should be compelled to buy it. Why should the consumer pay inflated prices to keep Maltese companies in business? Presumably for the same reasons that we were compelled to buy Maltese products like Deserta "chocolate" several decades ago.

Times have changed and the world has moved on, though every day we see that some people in this country are still living in the 1970s.

Mr Cefai's argument is, in any case, fatally flawed, probably because he thinks in such isolationist terms. Has he forgotten that, if we join the Union, the European market will be open to us? Does he not think that we Maltese might be able to sell our products in this market? Rather than continuing to squabble over this tiny rock upon which we live, might Maltese producers not see the opportunity to grow their business into Europe? This would enable them to achieve greater economies of scale, thus reducing costs and becoming more competitive. Add to this Malta's lower cost base, and this puts them in an advantageous position vis-à-vis their European competitors. Might this not lead to precisely the opposite effect that Mr Cefai is prophesying so categorically?

Perhaps Mr Cefai simply does not think that the Maltese producer is capable of this. Decide, Mr Cefai, are we capable or incapable? And is it undesirable for prices to go up or to go down?