Missing in action

It has been a rather important week for Europe as the European Parliament has endorsed the EU's first Constitution with 500 MEPs voting in favour, 137 against and 40 abstaining.

Unfortunately, such a historical event for Malta, one of the new EU member states, has been tainted by the behaviour of the Labour MEPs who willingly or unwillingly have decided to join the Eurosceptics and the right-wing MEPs who either voted against or abstained in such a crucial vote.

I found it rather embarrassing for tiny Malta to be one of the few member states, if not the only one, to have only a minority of its MEPs voting in favour of the Constitution and the majority abstaining. I was under the impression that the Labour Party had abandoned for good its Euroscepticism and decided to accept the people's verdict. However it seems that this is not necessarily the case.

The position adopted by the Labour MEPs to wait for the MLP to take an official stand on the Constitution seems rather odd, to say the least. What is the Labour Party waiting for to take a position on the Constitution? Why is it that the discussion on the Constitution did not feature on the agenda of the Labour Party annual general conference, as expected?

The situation is also embarrassing for Labour MEPs Louis Grech and Joseph Muscat who were among 12 isolated Socialist MEPs abstaining on such a crucial vote (the third Labour MEP, Dr John Attard Montalto, was in Malta when the vote was taken).

An overwhelming majority of Socialist MEPs, 175, voted in favour of the Constitution. Dr Attard Montalto himself, the head of the Maltese Labour MEPs, complained some months ago that the lack of an official position by his party was putting the three Labour MEPs in a "difficult situation". Obviously, the situation is now not just difficult but embarrassing for them and the Labour Party as such, and also for the country.

At a time when Malta is building its credibility as a committed European partner, following the quibbling that took place in the local domestic political debate during the past decade over Malta's European vocation, this event was definitely an unnecessary setback.

In this context, it is worth noting the speech made by Martin Schulz in the European Parliament on the eve of the vote taken in Parliament last Wednesday. Mr Schulz, leader of the Socialist Group in the EP, has categorically stated that "the values in the European Constitution are civil values which can be described as the values of citizens who are Christians, Jews or of any other belief. This Constitution lies beyond religious and political divides".

Mr Schulz said that the Socialist Group would approve the European Constitution and appealed to all other political groups in the European Parliament to vote in favour.

One also has to point out, that among other significant matters directly affecting Malta as a member of the Union, the Constitution guarantees a sixth seat for Malta in the European Parliament, and whether they like it or not, the three Labour MEPs have managed not to vote in favour of our sixth seat in the European Parliament.

One should hope that the Labour Party will take a clear position in favour of the Constitution without further delay and in time to have a unanimous vote in favour of the Constitution when the Maltese Parliament is faced with the ratification of the Treaty.

Public holidays controversy

Finally the unions and the employers' associations are back on the table of discussion. It seems that there is some hope that the public holidays saga will be resolved and that the social partners will continue with their discussion, abandoned on the eve of the last budget, in a bid to seek a wider national agreement on how to make our country more competitive, how to create new jobs and how to improve the overall economic situation.

Whatever the outcome of the talks between the unions to present fresh proposals to the government, let us hope that the unions realise that taking it to the streets will not resolve anything in this day and age and that it is not the way a modern union makes its case or wins an argument.

It is natural that in a scenario where the social partners fail to reach agreement, it is the government, which was elected by the people to run the country, which has the duty to take final decisions. Obviously, any government has to consider the sectoral interests of individual bodies or trade unions, but more importantly, the interest of the country as a whole.