I refer to G.G. Debono letter entitled “Anti-EU jiggery pokery” of 2 June in reply to my letter which referred to an article by Stefano Mallia, a former vice-chairman of the EU propaganda arm in Malta– The European Movement, as well as a front-liner in the ‘Yes’ camp during the EU membership referendum campaign.

Funnily enough, Dr Debono completely avoided commenting on the subject of my letter in reply to Stefano Mallia, which was Mr Mallia’s suggestion to include a clause in Malta’s Constitution making the possibility of a future withdrawal from the EU subject to a two-thirds majority in Parliament, disregarding altogether the Maltese people’s will on such an important matter.

Dr Debono just chose my reference to the scaremongering tactics used by the ‘Yes’ camp, aided and abetted by a procession of top EU officials (particularly the most menacing of the lot, Günther Verheugen), ministers from EU member-states etc., all intent on scaring the wits out of Maltese voters!

Instead, Dr Debono selected a few arguments made by different people who wrote about certain negative aspects of EU membership, including me. So I will do likewise and remind Dr Debono of what he and others used to write. Not just to scare but also to dupe voters into believing that EU was the answer to Malta’s problems!

I’ll start with the scary part. Just days prior to the EU referendum of March 2003, a flyer was dropped in letter boxes throughout Malta and Gozo. On one side were written the words: “IVA ma’ l-Ewropa, LE ma’ l-Gharab”. On the other side the words: “ Fit- 8 ta’ Marzu il-poplu se jiddeciedi jekk int tkunx Ewopew jew Afrikan. Thallix lill-haddiehor jiddeciedi ghalik. Ivvota u ivvota IVA”. Ironically, we seem to be becoming “African” precisely because we joined the EU!

How many times had we heard PN speakers and read what PN correspondents, including Dr Debono, wrote about Malta ending up “Isolated” or like a “ Qasba tixxejjer mar-rih” if voters vote “No”? How many times did we hear them say that a “partnership agreement with the EU“ does not exist? It resulted that the EU has signed quite a number of such agreements with both European and non-European countries.

Dr Debono had campaigned heavily in favour of EU membership, going as far as to say that “ countries entering the EU will cede or devolve some of their power, the devolved power is shared by member countries”. I countered his argument in this way; “ George, imagine having your own company and you are told to hand the running of the business of your company to a much larger one. In return you will be allowed to sit and participate in Board meetings but you will be given the least voting power of all those sitting around the boardroom table. Say, three votes out of a total of 340 votes? George, would you still consider yourself the ‘supreme power’ or ‘ sovereign’ of your company’s business?” Today, even Malta’s budget has to be given the green light by the EU! As Lord Willoughby de Brooke once said: “Sovereignty like virginity, cannot be shared. You either have it or you don’t!”

The ‘ Alice in Wonderland ‘ part – if I may borrow Tonio Fenech’s famous phrase of recent times – was even more compelling. Starting with the Lm100 million a year (€234 million) coming from the EU – and about which statement made by then Deputy Leader of the PN, Prof. Guido de Marco, Dr Simon Busuttil then Head of MIC, kept his mouth shut, when he was supposed to give the right information to the Maltese people, which has resulted in membership costing Malta more millions than we are receiving from the EU to date! We then had the personal letters sent by Dr Eddie Fenech Adami to countless thousands of people in different sectors, including hunters and trappers, promising each and every one of them, a much rosier future. Even housewives were assured that the cost-of-living would go down by some Lm1.75 per week if I remember correctly!

I could go on for ages giving examples of how Maltese and Gozitan voters had been duped. I often meet people who admit having voted in favour of membership but realise now that they had been fooled.

Of course, the likes of Dr Debono will never admit this. Even when Jose Barroso has strongly hinted that the next step in the integration process is a Federal EU State, as also suggested by Stefano Mallia, but about which G.G. Debono has not written a word!

Eddy Privitera

MOSTA