Scaremongering never works

It has been proven that scaremongering in politics has little or no effect on the electorate especially when an election is approaching. Locally, for example, scaremongering by Labour regarding possible disastrous repercussions following EU membership proved futile.

The same can be said of scaremongering tactics being employed by columnists such as Austin Bencini. All that the Leader of the Opposition is saying is that there are bread and butter issues that need a special understanding from the European Commission of Malta's particular problems in the fields of shipyards and agriculture.

Are we going to accept that if the shipyards do not meet the end-of-year deadline for zero subsidies, they will have to close down? Doesn't this need to be clarified with the European Commission and possible solutions found? Is it not also possible to arrive at a better arrangement with the Commission regarding the possible use of the Safeguard Clause in the case of agriculture in Malta?

It's not in Malta's interest to keep harping that the Labour Party has second thoughts about Malta's membership of the EU. For the record, the Labour Party has endorsed, by secret ballot and with an absolute majority of over 80 per cent, Malta's membership in the EU. Following this, the party's new EU policy was endorsed by the absolute majority of the Maltese electorate in the 2004 elections for the European Parliament when the Labour Party secured a 22,000 vote majority over the Nationalist Party and elected three MEPs to the Nationalists' two.

The Labour Party was the only political party in Malta to engage in a six-month internal discussion involving all party delegates, before agreeing to the first EU constitution. The ratification of the said constitution was even approved by the party before being approved in Parliament.

Moreover, the Labour Party's Parliamentary Group unanimously voted in favour in Parliament, first for the ratification of the European Constitution and just two weeks ago to the ratification of the new EU Treaty.

The Labour Party has accepted the people's decision on Europe and rightly changed course with its EU policy as it promised to do before the 2003 election. That is now a done deal and no one but the general conference of the party can reverse that. This does not mean that the Labour Party in government won't fight for Malta's interests wherever this is needed. And moreover, as already seen by the performance of Labour's MEPs, a Labour government will strive to get the best for Malta from the EU.

Let's have a more mature debate on Malta's opportunities in Europe and stop wasting precious time scaremongering because as said elsewhere, time means money - such as when EU funds are lost for submitting a late application!