Last week the party in opposition issued a nine-page paper on its foreign policy. The document makes interesting reading, but is also very worrying. It seems that Sant is all out to strengthen relations with the South American sub-continent as well as Asia, with India and China among the fore-runners. What made the news as regards this foreign policy paper is – no news about the EU.

Needless to say that it is good and we all hope to have the best of relations with one and all nations around. Insofar as diplomatic relations are concerned, all countries recognised by the UN and the EU are also so acknowledged by us. Due respect is to be shown to all, but the orientation of our energies needs to be directed to those regionally near to us and especially to those nations with whom we can have more than good diplomatic relations.

It is good that the MLP wants to enhance good neighbourly relations with the countries on the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean. But then there is nothing new in this. This government has, for years now, had extremely good relations with Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and all the other North African nations. These have been further enhanced during the recent years with our participation in the Euro-Med forum as well as the 5+5 conferences and initiatives between the western European countries having their southern shores on the north end of the Mediterranean and the north western African nations with their northern shores bordering the south of the Mediterranean. So really here this MLP paper tells us more of the same. No new news.

That is all very good. However, one would expect Labour to tell us with which of these countries trade relations could mature and expand beyond that which is the present prevailing situation. We need numbers and not just smoke. We need to know how and how much!

The Malta Labour Party wishes to further develop relations with South America and the Far East. Is this realisable? Or is it all a fairy tale? Does this mean taking up the kind of policies which would flourish in the world of Never Never? Is this another fiction film by Dreamworks Corporation?

If we analyse the economic situation today and identify which countries are most aggressive in attracting labour-intensive factories, particularly within textiles industry, to their shores, we find that countries mentioned in Labour’s paper rank at the very top of the list. Needless to say that no one blames them for being aggressive in their policies; however Malta in reality needs a different kind of business world.

If I remember correctly, when criticising local economic policies, the MLP showed astonishment and awe when our IT Minister explicitly stated that labour-intensive enterprises are on the decline and that, in order to succeed economically, we need an intelligent economy based on IT, financial servicing, and pharmaceutical industries as well as computer-orientated business. Labour left no stone unturned to direct every side of the stick – especially the pointed end, at Dr Gatt. At one point, one would have thought that the executioner’s axe should have come down on Minister Gatt’s neck. Do we now have yet another U-turn?

Are we not now members of the European Union which is doing its best in order to become the leading economic regions around?

European Union

Then there is one other very worrying point, which is of primary importance and which should have figured very prominently in the MLP foreign policy paper. I would have imagined that with all the lip service recently paid by the Labour Party to the fact that “…now our membership within the European Union is there to stay and that there is agreement regarding Malta’s joining the Eurozone,” a substantial part of Labour’s foreign policy would have concerned our relationship with the other members within the union. I also expected that such an analysis would have touched upon and encompassed the four corners of the operations within the union. Its total absence from this document gives one many reasons for concern.

The general public keeps receiving different vibes regarding the union from the MLP. One day Dr Sant seems all for it. On the next he is ranting away, in some Labour Party club, about how good matters would have been if we had remained out of the European Union. This is perplexing and not understandable. His reasoning has been proven to be wrong. His mathematics and numbers have been repeatedly shown to be incorrect by about 500%! The many damning forecasts of what would happen, should Malta join the union, have likewise been proved wrong. Now, three years down the line, his ifs and buts keep coming up here and there – but no alternative solutions benefiting the country economically have been offered.

For clarity’s sake, for our peace of mind as well as in respect for the Maltese people, let us hope that a second revised edition of Labour’s foreign policy paper is presented to us within the next few days.

We can excuse the inaptness of the first issue accepting that Labour have teething problems. In other words we can accept a weak first try!

If Labour’s reply to this request is that they will stick to Dr George Vella’s report as so artfully delivered in 2002 – then, in all probability:

• If and when elected to government, they will adhere to the present relationship which the Nationalist government has with care, attention and so much work managed to develop;

• All their criticism has just been meted out merely to please their loyal audiences who had been told so many damning tales prior to us becoming members of the EU;

• Prime Minister Gonzi and President Fenech Adami will be again vindicated; and

• Richard Cachia Caruana can look forward to another term as Malta’s Permanent Representative in Brussels even if Labour is elected.

If that is not so then please can we have answers to the following?

• In view of the ever-developing situation and relationships within the European Union, what are Labour’s forward-looking plans here, and to what extent will it be participating within the union should it be elected to government?

• Other than RCC, who will be Malta’s next ambassador to the union in Brussels?

• Will Labour try to renegotiate Malta’s financial packet with the union or will it continue utilising the e850 million plus which have been allotted to us within the 2007-2013 budget? Is their magic man conjuring something new?

• Will we still be in the union or is the Labour Party thinking otherwise because the 2002 report does just that?

Come on. Get yourselves a copy of the MLP document.

Go through the paper presented.

Read Dr Sant’s comments in the media and then form your opinion of the difference of what’s going on now and what could be happening if there is a change in government.

Let’s criticise, by all means, but when the day of reckoning comes, let’s play safe!

Tony Abela is parliamentary secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister