Eddy Privitera’s (TMID, 29 February) hit and miss shoot from the hip cowboy style is typical of an MLP sympathiser running for cover. To make matters worse, most often he illustrates how little he knows about what he writes about.

He brings the subject of reopening the Accession Treaty with the EU and the belief that Alfred Sant will be able to, as he put it, “ameliorate it”. I simply cannot imagine what it will take to convince Eddy & Co that this is virtually impossible. Now, I know that he believes that Dr Sant often does the impossible, including sinking the MLP. Many MEPs from at least four different EU member states have described Dr Sant’s fantasy anywhere from “sheer lunacy to a bad joke”. They warned that if he even attempted to do that not only he would be regarded as a fluke, but it will ruin Malta’s reputation.

This, no doubt, will spell the end of the e855 million (not Lm1.5 million) because why would the EU throw good money after bad? Obviously as one MEP put it, Dr Sant would have to pull out of the EU in order to reopen the treaty. Guess what, the Maltese voters would want a say in all this and in Dr Sant’s own words, a referendum will not do it since he does not consider a referendum as a democratic means of settling an issue! He insists that only an election would resolve a critical issue such as this.

It follows that should he become Prime Minister, and after he has promised so many times that he would immediately seek to reopen the Accession Treaty, he would do it in short order because like it or not, Malta Shipyards will not be subsidised beyond the end of this year. It is a foregone conclusion that the EU is going to tell Dr Sant to take a hike.

Since Dr Sant’s solution is calling on the electorate to make a decision, and a referendum is out of the question, then by his own reasoning, he has to call an election. The time frame for this to happen by essence has to be by, say, March of 2009.

So, here we go again. Dr Sant is still very bitter about his short 22-month stint, but now he is engineering an even shorter stay should the voters be mad enough to let him in on 8 March!

Eddy’s rant takes even a more bizarre twist by musing whether the “EU is a monolithic organisation which is not interested in the plight of citizens”. A country goes to negotiate a contract (which after all the Accession Treaty is one such), gets acceptance, gets the deal sealed and then four years later some joker comes along requesting the terms of the contract changed! Like you get a loan from a bank with set terms, rates etc., then half-way its term, you go to the manager and tell him/her that you don’t like the terms. The response, no doubt will be – good, pay the balance out and get the hell out of here. Perhaps not in so many words but the end result would be the same. Guess what – if you need money from the same bank, no matter how much later you will not get it. Your name would be blacklisted and not even your begging and groveling will solve your problem.

Eddy, please stop emulating a failed premier, a failed manager, a failed party leader and come to your senses. If you are a Labourite, that’s fine because you are entitled to your leanings but please instead of wasting so much time and energy defending your current position, why not find some bright young elements and form a new party with a truly “New Beginning” after having ridding yourself of all the dead wood from the 1970s and 1980s.

Joe Martinelli

London, Ontario,

Canada