After twelve years of living in denial, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has finally conceded that joining the European Union was the “best decision Malta could have made.”

But when given the choice, Joseph Muscat and his acolytes, as opposed to Simon Busuttil and the Nationalist Party, actively campaigned against membership. They even froze Malta’s pending application. Some have argued that acknowledging one’s own mistakes demands courage, but in this case it is more an indication of the lack of courage showed at that time coupled with a lack of foresight and political vision. 

Do not Brexit

Had Malta stayed out, we would not have enjoyed the status and the benefits emanating from membership within the union. Had we stayed out, we would not have the economic success today that the Prime Minister so readily boasts about. So in addition to being sorry, Muscat should further acknowledge that Malta’s economic success is not exactly his feat. But maybe that would be asking too much of a man who won an election and governs a country on make-believe.

Of course, his short sightedness, then, makes no less of a valid case for advocacy against Brexit. On this one we are foursquare behind the Prime Minister, just as much as a few years back we were against the advice he offered Icelanders and fellow Maltese. The UK’s exit from the EU is no-one’s interest. It is not in the interest of Britain and its citizens and neither in the interest of Europe or the Commonwealth. Global problems require more solid forms of cooperation and not less.

Switzerland in the Mediterranean

In the 2003 referendum campaign, the Labour Party had vehemently objected to EU membership. They fought it on the basis of petty nationalistic sentiment without a real understanding of the concept of shared sovereignty which the EU offered. And today we are proud that our ministers sit on the decision-making table with the rest of their European counterparts. Labour fought the European Union on the wrongful interpretation of the EU’s willingness to assist in our economic modernisation.  They assumed that Malta would only get one and half million euros, when in fact we got no less than 2,500 million euros under various schemes – millions of euros from the EU which we invested, and are still investing, in education, employment and tourism, among others.

Luckily enough, the majority did not fall for Labour’s scaremongering about us being small fry in the EU or, as Labour used to argue, whitebait among whales. The majority of the Maltese did not fall for the ‘Sicilians taking our jobs’ remark and they were proven right, as we have had near full employment in times of international crisis as well as in present times of international prosperity. The majority of the Maltese chose cooperation against isolation which Labour’s counterproposal of partnership and ‘Switzerland in the Mediterranean’ ultimately meant. Had the majority fallen for it, we would have all paid the price for Labour’s lack of foresight.

A league of no ordinary gentlemen

Listening to Joseph Muscat today makes the idea of membership within the European Union sound as if it was always the obvious choice for the Maltese, but let’s not forget that had it not been for men of great vision and political stamina, we would still be out of it.

Of course, there were quite a few people without whose involvement we would never have made it, but Eddie Fenech Adami’s vision, Joe Saliba’s campaigning skills, and Simon Busuttil’s charisma and technical expertise were pivotal in convincing the Maltese people to express Malta’s European vocation through a ‘yes’ vote in the referendum. For unlike popular belief, it was not the PN which jumped on the EU bandwagon. Quite the opposite, it was the PN which painstakingly created a movement in favour of its vision of Malta’s membership within the European Union. It was Lawrence Gonzi’s firm hands which spelt the death knell of opposition to the EU by making such a huge success out of Malta’s membership, in spite of unpopular but essential reforms and an international economic crisis. Now that is what I call political leadership.