Last Thursday's May Day and Celebration event organised by the Nationalist Party at the Luxol Grounds in Pembroke is precisely one year ahead of Malta's accession to the European Union. Just over three weeks ago, the people sealed our country's destiny and immediately afterwards, our Prime Minister signed Malta's EU accession treaty in Athens.
In his speech last Thursday Dr Fenech Adami made the appropriate connection between May Day and our forming part of the EU. It is not merely a question of coincidence that the Union's historic enlargement will take place on May Day next year, or for that matter that the celebration national meeting took place on May Day this year, but there is a clear linkage between offering workers the best possible protection for their rights as well as having the benefit of countless new work opportunities and Malta becoming a member of the Union.
There is much that has been carried out in anticipation of membership. There is also a great deal that needs to be achieved in the coming year. As a people we are capable of recognising and grabbing opportunities that come our way.
Nor do we shy away from such moments because of scaremongering or fear of the unknown. The people were able to make the right choice when they voted for independence 39 years ago, and when they voted to strengthen that independence through EU membership in the referendum as well as in the general election.
It was the Nationalist Party that managed on both occasions to spearhead a national campaign in favour of the right choice. It was a Nationalist government that 39 years ago was able to use independence as a tool of economic growth, job creation, new opportunities and giving the country credibility that in turn leads to investment and stability. Similar and bigger challenges face us in this historic hour.
Securing EU membership does not represent the end of the story, but is a new beginning. This is what will bring about a new spring that carries with it employment, prosperity and seriousness. While this has been the motif of last Thursday's event, it will also be the theme of the forthcoming PN General Council that will analyse the election result as well as, according to the party statute, confirm the party leader and elect the deputy leader.
The party's electoral programme speaks of our commitment to ensure that Malta will grow within Europe.
Pronouncements from all sides of the political spectrum since general election clearly indicate that the controversy over EU membership is behind us. The people made the same decision twice over in the space of just over one month and that verdict stands.
Talk about our country's sovereignty can only mean anything when it refers to the sovereignty of the people, and the very same persons who had sought to belittle that sovereignty by claiming on March 9 that "partnership had won" are no longer expressing any doubt about the people's will.
The Nationalist Party has consistently pointed out that we could argue over and over again about what decision to make as a people, but once that decision is made, the people will unite behind it. The Nationalist Party had also thought that the Labour Party would have been able to make such a value judgment after the clear referendum result as opposed to waiting until an electoral defeat. Much to the chagrin of any person who genuinely cares for the Labour Party, that was not to be!
In a democratic process, every political party makes it own internal choices from time to time and then lives to rejoice or regret the outcome. The Nationalist Party has no interest to behave in a patronising manner towards the Labour Party and when our unsolicited advice is not heeded to, so be it.
Incidentally I am convinced that the Labour Party has been and is still facing such a credibility crisis of its own making, not least through its media machine, that it would have still lost the general election even if it changed its position on the EU after the referendum.
Still, in that scenario the possibility of closing the gap cannot be discounted. Moreover, we could have then been still speculating on the general election date!
Thank God, it is now all behind us. The outrageous assertions about overtime, the irresponsible whispering campaign, the meetings held in the open as well as behind closed doors by the General Workers Union to scare workers in all categories, did not lead to the impact desired by the perpetrators not for any lack of energy put in by the same perpetrators but if anything for their sheer overkill strategy.
Those curious enough to discover what the 'other side' was stating through its media, more often than not, emerged more convinced that Labour were not presenting credible and coherent arguments.
The run-up to making the choice for EU membership has been characterised by taking on board the key components of civil society. Different organisations, associations, special interest groups came together with Government to prepare for membership. Even the GWU formed part of the process. It was only the MLP that boycotted all structures and meetings.
At the end of the day, it was as many as 31 organisations that co-owned the results achieved in the negotiations and together with government made the case for membership. These organisations were subjected to spite and ridicule by the Labour Party's lie and hate machine. It did not deter them and they carried on with what they believed in. They have been proved right.
This has been a learning process for all involved. This is the same process that needs to be adopted as a method of government. Those who travelled along with Government to reach the gates of membership deserve to remain on board not only as we made our way in on April 16 when those gates were drawn wide open for us, but also as we take on board and adapt to the new working structures and opportunities that membership brings along with it.
That is the way that the European Union works and for us in Malta it will signify new forms of synergy and collaboration. In the various government spheres, we shall need to keep on co-owning the process together with civil society.
Over the past days, Foreign Ministers from all 25 countries of the enlarged EU have been meeting together in Greece to help them establish new working relations as members of one family. Other colleagues of mine are participating in similar meetings that will be establishing policies for all the family in the various government tasks.
This week I shall join tourism ministers from the other 24 family members. It is a significant event in its own right since the enlarged family will have a stronger interest than ever before to co-ordinate common tourism policies rather than leave the whole issue to the respective countries, as well as to promote travel within the enlarged family now that the sheer size of that family reaches nearly 500 million members and the territorial footprint stretches from Eastern and Central Europe to the Mediterranean.
We shall not allow the new challenges and opportunities to stare us in the face without acting very pro-actively on them.
It will be an exciting phase in our country's history. We can make the most out of it by working closely together.
Personal and collective initiatives need to be given the strongest support possible. It is our opportunity to create new productive employment as well as to strengthen and enhance working conditions of those who are already in employment.
Equally, this is our best opportunity to promote solidarity among ourselves. That provides the most important linkage between May Day and the date of Malta's becoming an EU member. Solidarity has been the keystone of our political message for May Day, as opposed to promoting class hatred and division. That is the formula that works, that produces results, that manages to bring people from all walks of life together to reap the benefits of their collective skills and energies.
That is also the formula which ensures that our social principles are never compromised. As the country faces with courage the new challenges and opportunities, it never forgets those among the people who genuinely need support and encouragement. Solidarity means that no category is allowed to lag behind the rest.
This is what the new spring is all about. EU membership represents the beginning of an exciting new phase of our history that is now in the making.
www.franciszammitdimech.com