Malta 'magnet for terror attacks'

Malta has become a magnet for terrorist attacks because of EU membership and participation in Nato's Partnership for Peace programme, former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici claimed yesterday.

Addressing a press conference, Dr Mifsud Bonnici, renowned for his anti-EU stance, insisted Malta should withdraw from the EU and the PfP and continue to be neutral and non-aligned, as laid down in the Constitution.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici, leader of the Campaign for National Independence (CNI), said the EU was developing into a military superpower and its common foreign and security policy violated Maltese constitutional provisions on neutrality and non-alignment.

He said other countries were viewing Malta as an ally of the UK, France and Germany, among others, making it "a magnet for terror attacks".

"Why should Malta expose itself to such risks?" he asked.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici hit out at Malta's participation in the PfP programme and the Somalia mission. He criticised the new AFM commander, Brig. Martin Xuereb, for having boasted Malta had been participating in PfP meetings since 1996.

He said the current impasse with Libya on granting visas also showed how Malta should not form part of the EU's Schengen arrangement, because what happened in Malta was being dictated by other countries.

"Malta has become a slave of the EU and Schengen," Dr Mifsud Bonnici said, adding the country was losing business because its people could not go to Libya.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said Malta was a net contributor and not a net beneficiary, and this was why the country should not be part of the EU. This year, he said, the country was forking out €66.5 million to give to the EU, around €221 per capita, while since EU membership in 2004, the country paid the EU a staggering €376 million, apart from the cost of adopting the acquis.

Turning to the water and electricity tariffs, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said CNI would participate in Sunday's protest because it was the EU that had forced the government to withdraw subsidies for essential services.