Illusions in the EU

According to The Times (March 1), President Guido de Marco has made comments on Maltese sovereignty and neutrality in connection with the upcoming referendum on EU membership.

It is true that Malta will keep its formal sovereignty but at the same time it will transfer a lot of its decision-making power to supranational institutions like the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice.

With every new EU treaty unanimous voting has often been replaced with qualified majority voting and the member states are giving up the possibility to act independently, or even veto decisions. Germany, Portugal and France do not govern their people via their national parliaments alone but have accepted that directives and regulations take precedence over national legislation in a growing number of areas.

Another policy area under development is the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Malta did not sign letters to support the US or France/Germany in the current Iraq crisis but Malta will always be under pressure to choose sides. If there is only one side in a future EU military operation, Malta will be considered part of this as an EU member.

It has also been claimed that Finland, Austria, Ireland and Sweden are military neutral countries within the EU. This is not the case. All of these countries contribute fully to the EU's budget - including the military aspects. They are also fully integrated in the peace keeping operations the EU is taking over from Nato.

The chairman of the EU's military committee and a Finnish national, General Gustav Hägglund, said in January 2003: if Finland does not decide in favour of Nato membership by the end of this decade it really will make no difference. By that time the EU's security and defence policy and the European pillar of Nato will be the same.

Malta will both give up a lot of its sovereignty and neutrality if it joins the European Union. The opposite claim is illusionary.