British MEP and eurosceptic Nigel Farage, who represents the United Kingdom Independence Party, warned us on his recent visit to Malta that through membership of the European Union we will once more become a colony.

His claim shows one of two things: either that Mr Farage never lived under a colonial regime or that he has never opened a history book to find out how British, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Belgian colonies were run.

Has anyone known a colonial power that aims to bring the standards of those under its rule up to the highest standards already enjoyed by those above?

A colonial power that gives those under its rule the highest form of representation at the top table of political authority, where decisions that affect the ruled are taken, and also gives the same representative the power to veto very important decisions if these are deemed to be against the interest of the ruled?

A colonial rule that gives the right to its subjects to get the highest forms of education and experience by allowing students, teachers, schools, workers, trade unions, local councils, non-government organisations and others to participate in programmes aimed at enhancing the social, cultural, educational opportunities of the ruled?

If colonial rulers of the past behaved in the way the EU behaves today towards its member states, there would have been no need at all to end colonial rule, the wind of change would have been directed in the opposite direction. Countries would have volunteered to become subjects to such a benign colonial power.

The guiding principle of any colonial rule was that hardly anything was allowed to happen in their colonies unless first and foremost it was for the benefit of the colonial power itself.

Now Mr Farage may be excused if he never had the unpleasant experience of living under colonial rule, but Alfred Sant, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici and others should know better. They all claim that Malta will become a colony once more if we were to join the EU.

How on earth they can keep a straight face while uttering such nonsense is beyond me! Malta`s constitutional and political history is littered with episodes showing colonial power at its worst. Suspension of constitutions, hence dismissing whatever token representative government was in place at the time; no police force under local rule; no foreign policy of course; no trade union rights to speak of; no right to demonstrate freely against the injustices of colonial rule.

Remember the Sette Giugno riots! And let`s not forget the illegal deportation of British subjects by the colonial oppressors.

In the EU of today, who is colonising whom? Certainly not Germany, which has had to put up with seeing its power shrinking as it shares its might with Luxembourg. Certainly not France, which has had to swallow its pride on many occasions when other countries in the EU joined together to deliver compromises which were far removed from what France would have liked. Certainly not the UK, which has seen the economic and political power of its erstwhile colony Ireland grow and grow since 1973.

One of the checks and balances that make up the corpus of the EU is the ability of member states to form ad hoc alliances that suit their particular needs, so that no one nation or group of nations have their way.

And with enlargement these alliances will become even more important and more significant. Malta will be able to lobby other countries where it feels support is needed to further a particular cause or another and no doubt that in return Malta will be lobbied by others. This is sovereignty at play. (Dom Mintoff would have a field-day.) None of this could ever happen in the narrow, one-way alley of colonial rule.

Nor will it happen if we stand on our own. No one claims that by joining the EU, Malta will acquire rights without corresponding responsibilities. There cannot be a union of nations of whatever type, without an overall supervisory and enforcing authority to see the common objectives agreed upon by the same nations that make the union are achieved. Otherwise chaos will ensue and the mighty will trample upon the weak.

The EU is not perfect, but it has shown in its relatively short history that it has the capability to deal with its internal shortcomings in a forceful way as when the Commission was dismissed because of corruption.

And its willingness to learn by consulting its component parts, present and future, is manifested by the setting up of the Convention for the Future of Europe, which is trying to devise a path for the future.

Those who claim that we are on the threshold of becoming a colony cannot in all honesty believe in what they are saying.