Nearly three years since Malta’s European parliamentarians took office, Malta Labour Party MEP Joseph Muscat reflects on Malta’s small voice being heard in EU structures, a mentality change taking place in the country, Malta’s sometimes lackadaisical adherence to EU legislation, the country’s political and administrative fatigue and his future prospects when his term draws to an end in 2009.

Four years ago, Joseph Muscat campaigned against European Union accession, and then, after a referendum and general election centred on the issue, threw his name in as one of the Malta’s hopeful members of European Parliament.

In an ironic twist, although the Malta Labour Party steadfastly opposed Malta’s prospective EU accession, Mr Muscat and his fellow MLP candidates swept the electoral rug from under the Nationalist Party’s feet and claimed three of the five European Parliament (EP) seats on offer.

Now, nearly three years down the road, Mr Muscat sees the Maltese people as passing through a transitional period, striving toward and coming to terms with their newfound “Europeaness”.

“At the moment, the country appears to be going through a reality check,” Mr Muscat observes from his Malta office in Fgura as the conversation begins to unfold.

“People are realising that joining a block through a treaty and having an EU flag on public buildings does not make you European, but rather that being European comes from within.

“People are clearly disillusioned with the traditional way of doing politics in Malta and, in one way or another they are turning to the EU as a sort of solution to their problems. Although in the coming years they may very well become disillusioned with European politics,” he remarks with a laugh.

The hundreds of petitions from Maltese citizens filling Mr Muscat’s email inbox every week, he observes, bears evidence to the fact that “civil society is really getting on its feet” and that for the first time in recent history, an active civil society – detached from political parties but at the same time active in politics – is emerging.

He cites this change in mentality, or the “awakening of civil society”, as one of the most positive developments of the last three years of Malta’s EU adventure.

“This”, he observes, “has inspired volunteers to look at legislation and point out the flaws, especially in cases where the government should be leading by example but where it is instead masterminding what I call Operation Loophole.”

On the negative side, he notes how, in the lead-up to the 2003 referendum and general election that sealed Malta’s future as an EU member, “membership was oversold as some sort of magic wand, which people now realise is not exactly the case. This disillusionment is the price that the salesman must now pay. I think that, politically, that price is being paid and if you look at all the electoral outcomes since membership, the results speak for themselves.”

A lot had been said about Malta’s voice being too small to be heard on an EU level, a prediction Mr Muscat dispels, citing a high degree of meritocracy within EU institutions.

He explains, “I was pleasantly surprised that in an institution like the EP, it does not matter who you are or where you come from, but rather whether you are capable of delivering.

“If meritocracy were not so strong, there would have been no justification for me having been tasked with the report on roaming, or Louis Grech drafting the report on the EP’s budget – both of which are very important issues on an EU level.

“As a country, we are defining ourselves as honest brokers in that we can be trusted to give a balanced perspective on an issue. We have the advantage, which I had not seen until a couple months ago, that we are not as easily influenced by the big lobbies as others might be. We are more independent, we can make up our own minds and we are being seen as both unbiased and capable.

“This applies basically to all Maltese MEPs – if you work hard and take part in crucial meetings, you can change people’s minds, as long as your arguments are coherent and trans-national.”

With Malta’s representatives, Mr Muscat in particular, having had a good deal of success in treating such trans-national issues, the conversation quickly turns to Maltese issues Mr Muscat has tabled within EP structures – namely pollution from Malta’s power stations and incinerators.

“While I think there is still a long way to go on the power station issue, the government is simply dragging its feet in giving its answers on the incinerator saga and I think the government stating the incinerator will be shut down in a couple months’ time will not be acceptable.

“I will continue to insist with the Commission that we as citizens need to know whether EU rules on incineration have been abided by over, at least, the last three years. If the result is that we did not conform to the rules, the people responsible must be held accountable.

“If I were living in Pietà, or working at the hospital, for all these years and I discovered the people responsible were not taking the necessary steps to see that my environment was not harmed… I would think those citizens would be able to take further steps.

“This is the sort of accountability we need in this country. I am not the kind of person to criticise the granting of high salaries, as long as everyone shoulders their responsibilities. So when it comes to a problem – when someone has signed a paper or closed their eyes – they have to be held responsible.

“Truthfully, this is not a problem that would be solved overnight with the election of a government – there is a need for a culture change and a realisation that these are the new rules we have to abide by.”

As an example, Mr Muscat cites the controversial vehicle registration tax, over which the EC recently began infringement proceedings against Malta for the tax on used cars. Apart from rumours that the government might actually consider raising such taxes instead of reducing them as requested by the EC, an attitude Mr Muscat describes as “totally unEuropean”, he is also bewildered by what is being perceived as a resistance to phasing out the registration tax in favour of introducing an emissions-related tax.

“The funny thing is that every time I broach the subject with Malta Transport Authority, they say they get their guidelines from the ministry. If that is the case, why do we have an authority, if it acts as a department?”

He points to other cases involving the import of hybrid vehicles and reimbursements for photovoltaic cell systems as representative of the authorities’ lacklustre attitude toward being proactive.

“There is a very clear political and administrative fatigue that needs, at least, political leadership,” he comments. “And people should be able to see their political leaders being vigorous enough to promote change. Instead, it seems like everyone is crawling toward the general elections while, in the meantime, it is very clear the country is calling out for a new source of political and administrative energy.”

Speaking of energy, Mr Muscat describes the national debate on the energy sector as “minimal and superficial”, many times stopping at the issue of the electricity surcharge, which, he points out, is really the effect and not the cause of the problem.

With Malta being 100 per cent reliant on fossil fuel imports, coupled by emissions problems and Malta’s power plants reaching their capacity several times throughout the year, it is clear that more needs to be done.

The government’s announcement that is seeking to link to the European power grid is, according to Mr Muscat, a good start, but one that would still leave Malta dependent on fossil fuels and possibly on nuclear energy as well.

Mr Muscat is adamant that simple solutions can go a long way. He cites as an example the heavy energy price of producing fresh water by reverse osmosis. At the same time, sewage is being treated and pumped out to sea, and it is then pumped back ashore to be desalinated – ensuing in crucial energy wastage.

Along the same lines, he also questions why the long-standing law for every building to have its own water reservoir is not being adhered to. The same goes for the technique, employed as far back as the time of the Knights of St John, of building with double walls – a natural insulation technique rendered even more effective by the use of Malta’s globigerina limestone.

He cites a Spanish regulation that requires all new buildings to have PV systems or solar water heaters on their roofs.

Cyprus, meanwhile, distributes six power-saving light bulbs to each household per year as a token gesture, which has been an incentive to use the eco-friendly practice.

“Why can’t we ban the most popular type of lighting, the incandescent bulb, in Malta? Eighty per cent of the energy produced by that type of bulb goes to heat, not light, which is wasted.

“I do not think we need to be Germany, France or the UK to do something about these things. We can be a perfect laboratory and in 20 years, we would be able to say that we took these logical, no-nonsense steps in 2007 and in 2027 we would have cut emissions, reduced environmental degradation, cut our power bills and reduced our dependency on fossil fuels.”

Turning from what should be national initiatives to Malta’s adherence to EU rules, Mr Muscat comments, “If there is EU legislation, we have to abide by that legislation and the state cannot see itself exempted because it thinks there is no watchdog. We cannot try to craft ourselves as devious people who are always trying to find our way through the rules.

“We should see what the rules are, see where we agree or do not agree and try to argue our way to get the rules that suit us best. But once the rules are there, we have to implement them and gear toward being the best at implementation and not at short-circuiting the system.

“We (as the MLP) have said since the beginning that if we were to be in the EU, although this would not be through our choice, we would accept the popular mandate. People have also expressed that they trust us more, as Labour, than the present government to do a good job at the EU level.”

The EP recently passed a law establishing Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABITs) to help member states with the growing problem of irregular migration, which, Mr Muscat observes, might have possibly been a step in the wrong direction.

“It does make sense, in the short to medium term to have patrols, but I do not see irregular migration being restrained by such patrols. It will regularise the way we deal with the problem; there is now the acknowledgement that it is a European problem and it has provided for a start to a European solution to the influx. However, it addresses the effect of the problem, and not its root cause.

“While the EU is presently the largest development donor for Africa, I think the former colonial powers – both the former colonisers such as the UK, France and Portugal as well as political colonisers such as the United States – have depleted Africa, the richest continent in the world, and have put in place regimes that throw people into poverty.

“If they caused the problem, they must also shoulder the cost of the problem. I might sound too fierce a socialist to some people, but this is the truth.

“If I were in the same position as these people – with a corrupt government, with war at my doorstep, dying of hunger and with no job prospects – I would flee as well.

“So yes, RABITs, burden-sharing and other EU initiatives deal with the influx, which is much needed. But I think we are also duty-bound to look at this problem as a continent and over the long term. The core of the problem is the continual economic exploitation of Africa over the years and these colonial powers must, either through funding or foregoing the debts these countries have accumulated, be held responsible.”

With a Maltese general election in the offing sometime toward the end of the year, or possibly in 2008, there had been speculation on whether Mr Muscat would be throwing his hat into the general electoral ring, or bid for the 2009 EP elections.

Mr Muscat is categorical, “I hope to contest the EP elections again. I have considered certain requests to run in the national elections, but think I owe it to people who have trusted me with a mandate to fulfil to contest the EP elections once again.

“I would also really like to go to the people and see what they think about the job I have done. The only way to do that is not through surveys or meetings or internet, but rather by putting yourself to the people and saying ‘If you like what I am doing, vote for me, and if not, then don’t.’”