The Campaign for National Independence has described comments by the EU Competition Commissioner on the Malta Shipyards privatisation strategy as “a national humiliation”.

The CNI, led by former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, pointed out that Neelie Kroes had found the government’s plan unacceptable, and asked it to come up with a new plan by mid-December.

“This disgusting act shows that the government which was democratically elected by the Maltese people is no longer sovereign and able to decide national matters as it deems fit in the interests of the Maltese people.

“The will of the European Union is superior to the will of the majority of the Maltese people. The national interest safeguarded by the Maltese government has to be sacrificed to the EU competition rules.”

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that independently of how right or wrong the government decision was to write off the shipyard debts, the people should not accept such humiliation by foreign bureaucrats.

Furthermore, the Commissioner’s decision was “stupid” since the Malta Shipyards debt was actually government debt since the government was the shareholder. The money was due to the government, and even if the debt was not written off, the company would still not pay the government.

If whoever bought Malta Shipyards was required to settle the debt, the price he would offer to buy the shipyard would be reduced by the amount due to the government to settle the debt. This meant that the debt would always be a loss to the government.

Even if Malta Shipyards was declared bankrupt, the debt would not be paid to the government.

Therefore, whatever the EU said, it would still be the government which ultimately had to carry the dockyard debt.

The CNI urged workers who wished to continue to work at the dockyard to form a cooperative and take over the dockyard together with a foreign strategic partner. In this way the shipyard would remain Maltese, and not a foreign maritime base, it said.