Signing the Lisbon Reform Treaty on 13 December will be an act of profanity towards Malta’s Republic Day, which is celebrated on that day, the chairman of the Campaign for National Independence, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, said yesterday.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici was giving a press conference to spell out the reasons why the CNI believed that the Maltese government should not ratify the treaty, saying that if it was put through parliament, it would be tantamount to denying the public their right to democracy.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that no one from Europe had explained what the treaty contained and, he said, the European Commission did this on purpose, to dupe people. He went on to mention the fact that the EC was refusing to distribute copies of the treaty until it was ratified by the member states.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that 70 per cent of all EU citizens wanted the issue to be put to a referendum, according to a British survey. “Through this treaty, which contains 99 per cent of the failed Constitution Treaty, the EU will be growing stronger to the detriment of individual member states,” said Dr Mifsud Bonnici.
He claimed that Malta would struggle as a result of various amendments, including the change to the decision-making process under which decisions will be taken by majority vote rather than consensus. He stated that the appointment of an EU Foreign Minister would mean that all member states would have a common foreign policy, putting Malta’s Constitution under strain when it came to safeguarding the country’s neutrality. He also said the EU was moving towards a common defence policy, which he said would violate Malta’s neutral status.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici questioned why the Maltese government did not negotiate any opt out agreements as did the Poles, the UK and Denmark. Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that while Malta would win another seat in the European Parliament, it would lose weighting due to the change to population percentage as well as the right to hold the Presidency of Europe and the automatic right to have a European Commissioner.