Editorial

The outgoing year, 2002, opened with a sensational development in Europe's history: as of January 1 euro notes and coins found themselves in the pockets of the citizens of 11 European states, who after a brief running-in period, generally adapted themselves quite well to the new European single currency.

The euro, which has not only firmly established itself (although some blame it for fuelling inflation) but is also currently at its highest level against the US dollar, is a very tangible symbol of European integration.

Besides its great advantages of facilitating trade and other exchanges and of making price comparisons that much easier, a currency common to 11 of the 15 European Union states brings home to the citizens of those states a tangible feeling of truly belonging to a common home, to a unified Europe where all barriers - and different currencies did constitute a barrier - are finally down. It is a feeling which many Maltese, who are travelling abroad in ever greater numbers, have indirectly experienced as they moved from one European country to another.

That common home, by the end of 2002, was poised to extend itself to no fewer than ten other countries, including Malta, leading to the creation of "One Europe" in fact, and not just in theory, by embracing the bulk of the countries hitherto considered to belong to "Eastern Europe".

Malta and Cyprus - which had started their long road to European Union accession by applying for membership within a few hours of each other in July, 1990 - will strengthen the Union's Mediterranean dimension, which will be completed with the eventual admission of Turkey.

Therefore, 2002 has meant a great beginning and a great end for Europe. But the new year is no less challenging. It is indeed, the year of resolution for the ten accession countries. For in most of them, including Malta, the people will be asked to express their sovereign will by putting their seal - or by denying it - to what their governments negotiated in Brussels and Copenhagen and, therefore, to their place in a United Europe.

For Malta in particular it is a year of resolution with a vengeance. For the people of these islands are being asked to express their will in no fewer than three electoral consultations: the next round of local elections, scheduled for March 8 - an annual appointment with a third of the islands' electorate, where in expressing judgment on the performance of their local councils, voters may or may not be reflecting concerns on national issues.

There is then (although not necessarily chronologically) the referendum on the EU membership package finalised by the government in just under three years of sometimes hectic and complex negotiations. Normally, and in all other accession countries holding referenda, the result would be binding on all parties. For indeed, what could be a simpler and more direct way of establishing the people's sovereign will on the subject, than by soliciting a yes or no to the question: do you want Malta to join the European Union (on the terms negotiated by the government)?

But simpler, in this case, does not mean more acceptable, because the Labour Party, and notably its leader, Dr Alfred Sant, has already declared it would not accept the outcome of the referendum. It insists - despite the fact that even at this stage it describes as an "obsession" the government's fulfilling of the mandate it won in the 1998 general election to negotiate EU membership - that it would only be bound on the matter of EU membership by the result of the next general election.

In taking this stance the MLP is banking on sufficiently fudging the issue, because it knows well enough that in a general election people vote in a certain way for various reasons, and not necessarily on a specific issue. For example, in 1996, when the MLP came to power, many voted against the Nationalists because they were against VAT, which the MLP promised to abolish; however, others voted against the PN because of perceived restrictions on hunting, or simply because they wanted a change.

So it is quite possible - depending on the outcome of the referendum - for the Prime Minister, Dr Fenech Adami, to call the election soon afterwards. He would be reckoning that if the voters, in their majority, would have voted yes to Europe, they would not contradict themselves by voting for the MLP in the general election. It is also possible, of course, in the event of an MLP boycott of the referendum, for this to be held simultaneously with the general election.

In any event, 2003 will definitely be a year of resolution for the people of these islands, who should therefore weigh their voting decisions more carefully than ever.