Ready to govern my foot!

Labour leader Alfred Sant has spoken of "Labour's readiness to govern the country". Has he forgotten he was at the helm between 1996 and 1998 and in that brief period of time they had not delivered anything except political instability, unemployment and unjust taxes? Not to say that public finances had gone haywire.

As to Labour's new partnership slogan, let nobody be fooled into believing that a Labour government would be able to negotiate such an agreement. I was present at the 1996 December EU Council meeting in Dublin just after Labour had frozen Malta's EU application. The EU leaders' reaction to this was one of shock.

Former Prime Minister John Bruton, at the time EU Council president, had shied away from commenting on Labour's decision.

Romano Prodi, then serving as Italy's prime minister, had exclaimed: "I am so sad!" And Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who inherited the EU presidency and hosted the summit later on, just put his hands on his face and said: "Malta? I have nothing more to say! Its all useless!"

I had never felt so humiliated. I remember Alfred Sant's first trip abroad as prime minister shortly after the 1996 election. In Rome for the FAO world summit, Mr Juncker sat next to Dr Sant and asked him: "Can you give me one good reason why you chose to freeze Malta's application?" Dr Sant did not answer.

Remember George Vella as foreign minister? Well, he too had a tough time before the EU association council meeting in Luxembourg.

"We ask for a special relationship," he said, but returned with a mere joint declaration that practically demolished Labour's idea of a special bond with the EU.

What people tend to forget is that Labour has already tried to get what it is promising and did not deliver. It did not deliver for the simple reason that for the EU you are either in or out.

By freezing the application, they had just become "politically irrelevant". Just think about the consequences now of what would happen should Labour return to power. Who in this world would give us credibility? Who would dare invest or risk exploring the possibilities of setting up shop here?

Dr Sant says that irrespective of what EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen says about the risks of Malta staying out of EU, the latter will no longer serve in the next Commission and therefore he would be history. Good try, Dr Sant!

What Dr Sant seems to have forgotten is that since Copenhagen Mr Verheugen has become the real architect of the new reunified Europe. The chances are that Mr Verheugen is eligible to a much higher posting than today.

Labour ready to govern? My foot!