Missed opportunity to stand up for Malta

During a visit to Malta, Sweden's trade minister, Ewa Björling, has told us to see the opportunities and the positive things "that you can get out of the problems" (of illegal immigration), according to the report in The Times of April 16.

Ms Björling was addressing a news conference together with Finance Minister Tonio Fenech. It is a pity that Mr Fenech, usually so loquacious and vigorous in replying to Labour Party statements, could only say that turning immigration into opportunities could be part of the solution, but the sheer number of immigrants made this difficult.

The sheer number makes it impossible, not difficult. Can't Lawrence Gonzi's government call a spade a spade for once, even where Malta's vital interests are at stake? And to drive the point home, Mr Fenech should have compared Malta's size and population with sparsely populated Sweden's. That would have put Ms Björling in her place. But for the Nationalist Party, being outspoken to an EU member, especially if it is a rich member, is out of the question, isn't it? Did Mr Fenech point out to Ms Björling that there are quite a few hundred illegal immigrants who are being employed locally, while the number of unemployed Maltese is going up?

Which is not to blame the illegal immigrants for the unemployment situation, but after all, no one asked them to come here. And the EU solution of pumping limited money into Malta is not what we want. We want the EU countries to share the physical burden with us, we want them to take a few hundreds of the illegal immigrants who made their way here.

This is the fundamental weakness of the PN. They make themselves lackeys of the EU, as they have always made themselves lackeys of the foreigner. Every time the PN government launches some project, we are told it is 70 per cent funded by the EU. So what? That 70 per cent contribution also includes Malta's input to the EU - our payments to the EU - apart from the remaining 25 per cent which Malta pays for.

This is why Malta needs to use the veto in its EU dealings. Malta cannot make that a regular occurrence but the EU has not shown solidarity with us in the illegal immigration issue, and that is a vital matter for Malta. Mr Fenech should have stood up stoutly for Malta's interests. As it is, it is obvious we cannot expect much for our country from Sweden's presidency of the EU. Dr Gonzi's Administration has lost another opportunity to stand up for Malta.

We should all remember that come June 6, when we vote for our European Parliament representatives.