All Euro citizens now

The lights are down. The party is over. We are now on the reality track. We know how we got there. It would be foolish for anyone to continue to predict with any certainty where it will lead us. The only certainty is that, for the foreseeable future anyway, there is no going back. We are part of the European Union. As with marriage, we are hitched, for better or for worse.

We can never forget how we got to this starting point. We rode in on the back of deep division. In the end the democratic will of the people prevailed. The Labour Party, as it had said it would in such eventuality, accepted the majority decision, if not as expressed in the referendum on membership, then in the general election of a year ago. It is now sailing the sea of the new reality of membership.

One could argue, as this columnist still does on occasion, that Labour followed a sadly misshapen policy, particularly after the referendum. One that denied not only its supporters, but also the country at large the strong chance of a change of hands on the wheel of the ship of state. From this point on it would be futile to continue to do so. The deed is done. Labour lost, but abides by the outcome. It need not have done so.

Within strict democratic terms, had it really seen membership as a matter of principle, as a scenario that would destroy the country, it could and should have declared that. While not doing anything to disrupt the serenity of the country, it would continue to militate on an anti-membership platform. It could have undertaken to pull Malta out at the first opportunity.

Instead Labour has reasoned out that to do so would be harmful to the economy, and so to the interests of the bulk of its basis, those who depend on employment for their livelihood. That was a valid conclusion. It is so not just in economic terms, but also according to political calculation.

If membership does not work out in this clear context of majority acceptance of the reality of membership, it would not be possible to blame Labour for that outcome. The Labour Party, however, would still be able to review its position in the light of the results of the reality test.

The position of the Nationalist Party is far less clear cut. It welcomes the fact that the MLP has accepted membership as a fact of life. Yet it lambasts Labour for not remaining fundamentally entrenched in its pre-election position. The Nationalists succumb to such ugly self-imposed contradiction in the hope of parochial political gain - to raise their chances, as they see them, in the June 12 election to select Malta's five history-confirming MEPs.

Such is the bottomless pit of political opportunism, despite hopes the new Nationalist leader and prime minister seriously meant it when he said that he would offer a new kind of politics.

More parish politics within the confines of little Malta simply confirm the zebra nature of our blinkered politics. Our political class spouts high principles but refuses to rise out of low practices. That is not the best way to start along the real, demanding role of membership. But it does not alter the fact that we are citizens of the EU now, bound by its arrangements and mounting obligations.

We retain the right to be neutral. We continue to have legal control on our tax affairs. We remain a sovereign nation, though we share part of our sovereignty with the other 24 members of the Union.

Otherwise, we have to abide by EU regulations. That involves compliance costs which - those of us who supported membership hope - will be somewhat more than offset by the long-term benefits of membership.

In the short term, these will not be very apparent. The rose-tinted glasses and fine metaphors used by some of the less intellectually disciplined of the promoters of EU membership became useless from the moment the clock struck midnight on Friday night.

Despite the derogations and transitory arrangements secured by the negotiators of the terms of accession, the strictures of membership will become apparent sooner than the benefits. The euphoria of the April 2003 result was anyway not sustained in the following 12 months, to use a huge understatement.

With the first phase of membership it will dissipate completely.

For the reality remains that membership will not make flowers bloom out of season, suspend time and its ravages, or make manna drop from heaven. As before May Day, we shall have to strive to make Malta a centre that attracts export-oriented foreign direct investment, and encourages Maltese entrepreneurs in the same direction.

It is easy to talk of increased consumption and to ignore the implications of our disappearing propensity to save a decent part of household disposable income. It does not take much imagination for the banks and other financial intermediaries to persuade those who have past savings and manage to put a little aside even now to choose from a remarkable array of financial products.

The difficult part is channelling funds into real new investment in Malta, to provide remunerative employment producing and supplying internationally traded goods and services, and beating enough of the harsh competition in the global economy to earn the annual stock of foreign income that we require.

Membership does not do away with that need, which has to satisfy our dependence on imports, the necessity to renew our capital and human resources continuously, and the desire to maintain a rising standard of living.

The celebrations over, moving forward as citizens of the European Union, we need to get much more real about these basic objectives if we are to pass the reality test not only of membership, but of being economic citizens of the world. The global village, if the term is not used as one more cliché, is rather bigger than the EU.

The basic reality is as clear as it is demanding. For that reason alone it is very distressing to see our political class ignore it. Instead of a debate based on alternative options, thereby increasing the range of possibilities Malta can attempt, within the EU market and outside it, we start our membership of the EU unnecessarily dissipating our strengths, and thereby accentuating our weaknesses, making it more difficult to identify and grasp opportunities, and to succumb to threats.

What threats? Those of the cost side of membership, for starters. But others beyond as well.

Take Libya, for example. The Jamahariya has come in from the cold. Its leader Muammar Gaddafi is feted everywhere. His major critics and detractors for over three decades, and in particular the past 20 years, positively drool over the opportunities that await them in Libya, in extracting its oil, in helping it upgrade its infrastructure, its amenities.

On his part Colonel Gaddafi, playing one of the coolest hands ever seen in international politics, is revelling in his newfound celebrity status, as well as freedom. He uses the fawning welcome extended to him from so many past enemy quarters to craft and propel a new image, to propound warmed up philosophies - and to carve out fresh opportunities for his country and his people.

It should have escaped no one's attention that Gaddafi has been quick to tell EU and other leaders that Libya can be a bridge between them and the developing world, in particular between Europe and Africa and the Middle East.

The bridge concept was Malta's very own prized asset. First propounded by the former Labour leader and Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, it was adopted by Nationalist governments and eloquently promoted by Guido de Marco as foreign minister, and also as President.

In the debate on what should be Malta's relations with the EU, major euro personalities pointed out, as if it was anything new, that Malta's geo-political position made ideal to place a keystone role in the bridge concept.

Wither Malta now? On the reality track of EU membership, certainly. But do there remain opportunities for it in the context of the metamorphosis of Libya from pariah to welcome and even admired partner to the EU, the US, and anyone who cares to join the flattery club?

Is it possible that, membership and all, we shall be missing out on many opportunities inherent in our geo-political position? One hopes that no one will rush forward to declare that the answer is a resounding 'no'.

Some can certainly be identified, combining Malta's new status and remarkable repositioning of Libya. Turning such identification into pro-active exploitation is another matter. One definitely not suited for anyone with a mindset to ride high horses.

There are signs, I am told, that Libyan citizens who in the past used to look to Malta and contacts here as means through which to approach and possibly link up with Euro operators are now less inclined to do so, more determined to go their own way forward.

That is a warning of what might come about, a clear indication that EU membership will not by itself ensure reward from this sector. Saying so does mean that opportunities will not exist and grow. Western operators looking at opportunities in Libya would benefit from using Malta as a staging post, an administrative and distribution centre. They will not do so automatically.

Nor will it hit them that they should do it now that Malta is a member of the EU. Now more than ever promoting Malta as a viable location for economic activity is crucial. That seems to have been a message forcefully driven by John Dalli last week in his new role of foreign minister, also responsible for Malta Enterprise, that has to promote investment more imaginatively and aggressively than ever before.

That is necessary, but it will not be enough. All of Malta's public and private resources have to be mobilised in a common direction. The jousting about membership over, the party done, the real hard work now lies ahead.

As an old song goes, nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever will. Nor will anything good come out of membership of the EU unless we, good citizens of Malta as well as the union, do a lot about it.

No more beckoning. No more waiting for the future. Reality is on, more aggressive than ever before.