We publish in today’s issue, the ‘explanation’ if that is the correct word, MEP Alfred Sant gave for his abstention in the European Parliament on Tuesday in the vote ratifying the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine.
We also publish a reaction by the government which states that MEPs are free to vote whichever way they want free from all government ‘interference’. But the government has also reminded us that Malta has signed the agreement that has now been ratified by the European Parliament.
There has been no word from the two other Labour MEPs but there is no doubt they voted for the agreement. That too shows a deep disagreement within Labour ranks, considering that Dr Sant is also the leader of the Labour delegation. He thus either did not consult them or else consulted them but they disagreed with him.
And, to show how Dr Sant is really out on his own on this issue, here is what the President of the European Parliament, and of the Socialist Group, Martin Schultz, had to say after the vote:
“ Today we have witnessed history being made. Never before has an Association Agreement been voted simultaneously by two parliaments. Today we translate the initiative proposed by President Poroshenko and myself for such a joint vote. The message this sends could not be clearer: the European Parliament supports Ukraine in its European vocation. The European Parliament will continue defending a united and sovereign Ukraine.
“In giving its overwhelming support to the Association Agreement, the European Parliament has stood for democracy in Ukraine. With this vote we are supporting the Ukrainian people so that the Maidan dream may become a reality.
“The European Parliament will now continue helping true democracy take root in Ukraine with the next step being the sending of observers to the upcoming elections to make sure that they are free and fair," Schulz said.
Being out on a limb is not just what Dr Sant has done to himself, to his voters, to his party and to the people of Malta. By sitting on the fence on the Ukraine issue he shows a lamentable lack of discernment between a Russia that has invaded and occupied part of Ukraine, a sovereign state, and Ukraine which is the victim of this appropriation. How can one strike a middle pose between a thief and a victim?
People in Ukraine died for a dream called Europe. They waved EU flags while protesting in the bitter cold and facing oppressive police and army repression. It is an insult to the memory of those who died in the Maidan to now find in the European Parliament of all places, MEPs who vote against the agreement and others who disdain to take a position.
Why are people not surprised? Because this is the same Alfred Sant who led mass protests against those who wanted Malta to join the EU, and who, like those in the Maidan, waved EU flags. Eleven years ago the dream of Europe proved to be too strong for Dr Sant and his party and now it has proved to be too strong for those who want to keep Ukraine in the Russian sphere.
History has marched on for Malta which is now stably (and comfortably) inside the EU and it will march on inside Ukraine. It is Dr Sant and his ilk who sit on the fence as history marches on, leaving them behind.