The title of this piece is a well-known quotation from the crew of Apollo 13 to NASA mission control in 1970. It is quite appropriate for the situation that three member states of the EU find themselves in today.
Let us imagine that Poland, Hungary and Malta are spaceships flying towards a better future while keeping contact with Mission Control Commission in Brussels. They are free-flying objects but are tied to their control and command centre to which they voluntarily acceded when they decided to join the EU and benefit from membership.
And, yet, in spite of having received billions of euros in EU funds ever since they joined in 2004, these three spaceships with their populations have encountered problems on the way.
The problems are all homemade and mostly emanate from the unwillingness of the three spaceship captains (their respective prime ministers or ruling parties) to follow the values and principles of rule of law that the mother ship and mission control in Brussels stands for.
All the other sister spaceships on this epic European journey, many of which are larger, more powerful, have a longer history of national independence and national pride, are all flying on the same journey towards a better future. Yet, the other 24 countries that make up more than 85 per cent of the membership of the EU, more or less follow these values, principles of rule of law and obey EU directives.
Poland and Hungary have taken their problematic distance from the EU rules because of a sense of newly discovered national independence, lost for 70 years to Communism and the despotic inward-looking politicians that are now in the driving seat. They want to enjoy the billions in development aid thrust upon them but wish to declare their national sovereignty over mission control rules. They cannot continue to do that.
Malta does not explicitly declare that it does not wish to follow command centre but does so in many subtle and not so subtle ways ‒ whether it is by killing investigative journalists, acting as a tax haven, allowing bird hunting and trapping, cheating on tuna quotas, spending EU funds without open tenders or with fixed tenders and placing the police and army under direct ministerial rule.
Either we change course or else we will have our EU funding suspended- John Vassallo
It also places party insiders with the national broadcaster to give a pro-government slant to all news and grant less than a fair share of broadcasting time to opposition parties or to NGOs. Malta also sells EU passports to alleged criminals, setting the entire Schengen Area at risk.
All these three spaceships need to be brought back on course by mission control in order for all the 27 spaceships to carry on their travels smoothly to a better future.
In the real Apollo 13, the mission was aborted and the ship had to return to earth. In the EU mission, the Court of Justice’s decision to allow the commission to withhold funding to these and any other countries/spaceships that break the rules is a better way to ensure the common mission continues by forcing the erring spaceships to change course.
The decision was only about Poland and Hungary, since their cases are more advanced than Malta’s and because their supreme courts have explicitly ruled against the EU treaties. Malta is not yet so far advanced on this legal course but there is enough anger in the European Parliament and its patience is running out.
Either we change course and come in line for the benefit of all Maltese and the EU in general or else we will have our funding suspended and, then, the national debt will explode and there will be no money to hand out or to service this debt.
Our mission, like Apollo 13, may also be aborted and we will all be losers. Our captains must change course, or, if they fail, the Maltese crew and passengers will revolt and replace the captains with ones more in tune with our long-term mission and will make the necessary changes of course.
If not, God save us from ourselves.
Roger and out.
John Vassallo, former Ambassador to the EU