White and red: The EU and Malta`s sovereignty

When I read an article such as that written by Dr Jason Azzopardi, a PN member of parliament, "First-class membership" (May 18), I almost despair of the future for this country.

Dr Azzopardi writes: "It is only now, as a further proof of our joining a Union of sovereign and equal nation states, that we will rightfully use our national language right at the heart of the most powerful economic bloc and political entity that we will be joining in 2004." He adds further down: "... no colonial master ever grants his `subjects` the right to address him in their own national language!"

What next? Has the Maltese government descended to a level where the use of our national language by Brussels for the issue of its directives to it - "the translation of EU laws into Maltese" as Dr Azzopardi rightly states - is to be considered as a great victory for Malta`s negotiators? What do I care about the use of Maltese by the European Union if my country will have lost its sovereignty by then!

As a person who believes in democracy, I respect the right of those Maltese citizens who feel that Malta should become a member of the European Union. However, let us not make statements that make every Maltese citizen blush!

The Maltese language "being put on a par with all the other official languages of the EU" does not protect our country from losing its sovereignty, from having to act against the national interest because of European Union membership.

Concepts being propagated by the pro-EU membership lobby such as "shared sovereignty", "pooled sovereignty" or "joint national sovereignties" are baseless.

These concepts are myths, not facts. There is no truth in the statement that membership of the European Union entails exchanging the sovereignty of the nation-state for equal participation in decision-making in a supranational EU. Decision-making in the EU is heavily influenced by the economic weight of the more powerful member countries. Enlargement will reinforce this tendency and not the opposite.

Let me quote from published sources. Special Report No. 21 of the Centre for Research on Geopolitics, Helsingborg, Sweden, has just been published.

This report, by Bertil Haggman, is entitled `United States of Europe (USE) - A Federal Constitution`. Starting with the issue of national languages, I am afraid that I shall have to disillusion readers who have been taken in by Dr Azzopardi`s euphoria about the use of Maltese in the European Union.

How long will Maltese survive as an official language of the EU after the whole long-term process of enlargement is concluded? Bertil Haggman, being more realistic than Dr Azzopardi, asks: "With 25 member nations will it be possible to translate all material into 25 languages or will it be necessary to choose one common language, a lingua franca?" (p. 2).

What will happen to Malta and other small nation-states upon becoming members of the European Union has been very well explained by The National Platform (Dublin, Ireland) in its paper entitled `The nation, state sovereignty and the European Union... Ten democratic principles` (April, 2002): "The EU continually reduces the influence of smaller states in decision-making by limiting or abolishing national veto powers. Even if bigger states similarly divest themselves of formal veto power, their political and economic weight ensures they can get their way in matters that are decisive to them.

"Equally false is the statement that membership of new states in the European Union and their surrender of sovereignty to the EU would increase their sovereignty in practice.

"The nation which gives up its sovereignty or is deprived of it, ceases to be an independent subject of international politics. Its politics become provincial. It is no longer able to decide even its own domestic affairs.

"It literally puts its existence at the mercy of those who are not its citizens, who have taken its sovereignty into their hands and who decide the policies of the larger body. In the European Union the Big States, in particular the Franco-German axis, decide fundamental policy." (p. 5)

The pro-EU membership lobby is always harping about our being isolated if Malta remains out of the EU. The truth is that Malta will be isolated if it joins the EU because it will be reduced to the status of a satellite of Brussels. Joining the European Union will mean kissing goodbye to our sovereignty, to our identity, to our independence.

When future Maltese historians write about the period we are living in and the debate about European Union membership or partnership, I am sure that they will mention with pride the names of those Maltese who today personify the white and red, especially Alfred Sant.

As for those who want to tie Malta`s destiny to the yellow stars on a blue background and thus close all other options for our country`s future, they are destined to be consigned to the footnotes of Maltese history after the Labour Party`s victory at the next general elections.