The EU Constitution and Malta's sovereignty

The EU Constitution does not erode your sovereignty. If the European Constitution is ratified, as a Maltese citizen you are going to enjoy more rights, not less.

The rights of the Maltese people are protected by the Maltese Constitution and by the European Convention for Human Rights. Both will continue to be applied with vigour. Both will continue to have legal force.

But in addition to them we will have the many new rights enshrined in the new European Constitution. That is surely a plus for us all.

EU membership is about solidarity. Malta will be getting a real feel of this as a result of the estimated €800 million in grants, which it will be receiving between 2007-2013.

But solidarity is not just a question of the rich helping their poorer neighbours. It is also about the strong helping the weak.

Stop for a minute to ponder on the following. The EU Constitution has a solidarity clause, which obliges the member states to help a fellow member state which suffers a terrorist attack or from a manmade or natural disaster.

In addition, as a result of the solidarity provisions in the European Constitution, we can expect the other member states to help us deal with the illegal immigration problem. Now isn't that a plus for us?

Now, isn't it encouraging to know that if the Maltese islands were to be hit by one of the big disasters mentioned here, we will not be alone? You can never tell what will happen. The countries around the Indian Ocean were not expecting the disaster that hit them when the tsunami struck.

The EU is building a reserve for such unpredictable disasters - of course for the benefit of its member states. It is building up its civil protection assets for the same reason. Can we really cut ourselves from these developments?

Threatened by force

And that is not all. Should Malta be threatened by military force, it can invoke the mutual defence clause in the EU Constitution and call on the other member states to defend it.

We all hope that Malta will never have to invoke this clause. But isn't it good to know that if push comes to shove our small island state can rely on the help of its EU partners?

It's heartening to know that we have the means to safeguard and protect our continued existence and identity.

Mutual self-defence and similar provisions in the European Constitution strengthen our sovereignty.

For what is sovereignty after all if not that individual citizens enjoy more freedom and live in greater safety?

Sovereignty does not mean that on paper you think you are in control of your belongings when in fact you're not. Worse still that someone else is!

Sovereignty means being able to enjoy what belongs to you. Rights, freedoms, material goods and your national and cultural identity are yours to keep and enjoy.

Now what is wrong in joining others in mutually helping one another to safeguard all these values?

National parliaments

The European Constitution strengthens the principle of subsidiarity, which means that decisions are taken at the appropriate level. Hence, no decision which ought to be taken at the national, regional or local council level should be shifted to the level of the EU.

The European Constitution makes it clear that national parliaments are the guardians of this principle. They have to examine EU laws to prevent the unnecessary shift of decision-making powers to Brussels.

The EU Constitution and the national Constitution do not exclude one another. It is not true that the EU Constitution is superior to ours. The EU Constitution covers those matters which the member states have voluntarily decided to do together.

At the same time our national Constitution will continue to be applied vigorously. Those whose job is to scaremonger will tell you that this is not true. Do not believe them.

Can you really trust those who have prophesied nothing but gloom and doom in the past that they may be right this time round?

Neutrality

Now what about neutrality? The EU Constitution strengthens Maltese neutrality. We can continue to live freely without the need of a foreign military base on our soil or to enter into an alliance knowing full well that, if threatened, our friends and partners in the EU are there to help us.

The EU Constitution provides us with these safeguards.

In the EU's foreign policy all major decisions are decided by unanimity - in other words, all the member states have to agree. Now that gives us a lot of power, much more than if the EU without Malta were to decide on its own the destiny of Europe and of course Malta's.

Just suppose the EU Constitution is not ratified. How do you think Malta will fare? The present treaties will continue to operate but Malta will not have the safeguards listed in this article - and one seat less in the European Parliament.

Hence, even if you are a diehard against EU membership, opposing the Constitution amounts to little more than cutting your nose to spite your face. Is that rational? We think it's foolish.

There is only one way ahead for Malta, which is forward. No matter how we got here or whether you agree or not with membership, pragmatism makes us admit that the European Constitution improves Malta's position and we must therefore strive to ratify it.

Pique is one of Malta's worst viruses. In politics it tends to infect everyone. But consider the following: a section of the population accepted neutrality reluctantly for the common good. They were strongly tempted once their party was in government to look back - but they did not. They looked forward.

The major trophy they won for their maturity was more national unity, slowly. It is baffling why and how a section of the population thinks that a majority that has earned a hard-won ticket to EU membership will sit idly by and see it squandered on pique garbed in self-righteous semi-constitutionalism.

Constitutions are there not to guard a phantom sovereignty of some Louis the Sun King. They are there to safeguard and if possible provide the framework for increasing individual freedom. The EU Constitution does just that without killing ours.