Solidarity, subsidiarity, security and success

Vote Yes in the referendum and you will be voting for solidarity, subsidiarity, security and success. A Yes vote means that our country joins the family of democratic nation-states that make up the European Union.

Vote Yes and count yourself a true patriot voting for the better good of the country and the collective good.

Yes means joining a union of nation-states that have turned their backs on the struggle for power in international affairs in favour of co-operation, collective security and economic prosperity for their citizens.

Solidarity

The corner stone of the EU is solidarity. The treaties on which the EU is based make it clear that one of the main aims of the EU is to deepen solidarity between the peoples of Europe while respecting their history, culture and traditions.

How do the member states try to achieve this? Firstly by strongly promoting the economic and social progress of their peoples, taking into account the principle of sustainable development.

Sustainable development means that economic development must safeguard the rights of future generations by protecting the environment. Solidarity means ensuring workers' social rights and consumer rights.

It means protecting the food chain to safeguard human and animal health. It means working for cohesion so that the poorer regions of the EU can eventually catch up with the richer ones.

Solidarity means opening trade opportunities for developing countries to export to the Union. Solidarity is visible in the fact that the EU is the world's biggest aid donor to the developing countries.

Subsidiarity

The European Union is committed to the principle of subsidiarity, namely that decisions are taken at the most appropriate level and as closely as possible to the citizens.

Subsidiarity is a principle developed in Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) and now being put into practice by the European Union. It means decision-making at the local level, the region, the country and the European level as appropriate.

Subsidiarity means consultation at the shop floor. It entails protecting the identities not only of the nation-states of Europe but also of the many smaller sub-national and ethnic communities.

Subsidiarity leads to the protection and encouragement of lesser used minority languages and cultures.

Security

Membership improves the security of the individual. As a member state of the EU, Malta will be safer. Its security will be guarded by like-minded democratic countries.

The aim of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) are to enforce Europe's independence and identity in world affairs and to promote peace, security and progress in Europe and in the world.

Co-operation between the member states against smuggling, cross-border crime and other threats to the individual ensures that the EU is consolidating an area of freedom, security and justice.

Security cannot be underestimated, nor is it to be taken for granted. You appreciate its value when you lose it! Make sure you don't.

Security means protection of the individual from all kinds of threats, not only the classical military ones but also those coming from organised crime and environmental degradation.

Success

The EU is also a common market with free trading arrangements with its adjacent regions such as the Mediterranean and many other countries in Africa, the Pacific, the Caribbean and the Americas.

There is no member state of the EU which has not seen its economic prospects improve markedly as a result of membership. Membership opens more trade opportunities for Malta both in the EU and beyond.

It means more investment too. It means more business. It translates into more work for everyone, more jobs.

Voting for membership means that we vote for a better and improved future for everyone. Some economic sectors will benefit directly. Others will benefit because the Maltese economy as a whole improves. New economic activities will gradually come to life.

Success means that ordinary Maltese citizens and workers will benefit from improved general welfare. Staying out means we lose all this.

Economic success means that the state will have more resources to divert to education, health care and environmental protection in addition to the funds coming from the EU.

Success means that not only the monetary but also the non-monetary aspects of our quality of life improve.

Social solidarity

For the EU, economic progress alone is not enough. One of the fundamental principles of the EU is the protection of the social rights of workers.

In the treaties, the EU commits itself to the fundamental rights of workers as defined in the European Social Charter signed in Turin in 1961 and the Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights of Workers approved by the EU member states in 1989.

The EU stands for improved work practices and safety and health standards in work places. The EU favours workers' consultations and a number of other rights that have still to be introduced in Malta.

The EU wants social stability and solidarity because this is the best way to ensure the individual's security and above all productivity. A happy workforce translates into higher productivity.

Sovereignty

The EU does not threaten Malta's sovereignty. The EU is a flexible community of peoples whose main interest is to strengthen the rights and independence of all its citizens.

Flexibility is the buzz word in the EU. It is evident in the package that Malta has secured as a result of the negotiations: controls on workers seeking jobs here, the purchase of a second property by EU citizens, neutrality, abortion and many more.

In the EU, the Maltese Constitution will remain supreme. Where Malta has lost sovereignty due to globalisation it will regain control on such matters by exercising power together with the other EU member states.

Outside the EU, Malta will lose sovereignty. It will be dictated to. It will have to adhere to EU rules in the vain attempt to remain competitive. No one and nothing protects Malta's sovereignty from the incursions of globalisation. That is the stark reality.