Europe should not ostracise political parties inspired by Islamic values when addressing the poignant question of what happens next in a post-revolutionary Arab world, according to the Foreign Affairs Minister.
“The EU has to shed its fear of Islamic parties and not ostracise them,” Tonio Borg said yesterday when addressing a forum for diplomacy students. His comment, though, came with a word of caution and a qualification. “The EU has to tread carefully when dealing with Islamic parties and I believe they should be accepted within the precepts of a democratic system on the same lines as Turkey’s ruling Islamic party.”
The possible rise of fundamentalist Islamic parties as a result of the revolutions in the Arab world has been a constant concern for the western world.
It was Dr Borg who at the beginning of February expressed concern about the possible rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Egypt at a time when deposed President Hosni Mubarak was still clinging to power and warning of a vacuum if he left.
Dr Borg’s trepidation almost two months ago was less visible yesterday as he advocated engagement with Islamic parties while speaking at the Mediterranean Diplomacy Forum, organised by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean and the University’s Mediterranean Academy for Diplomatic Studies.
He also admonished the EU for offering Tunisia “a paltry sum” as assistance in this moment of transition.
“The EU should put its money where its mouth is. It is useless promoting democracy unless this leads to tangible economic development,” Dr Borg said.
He reiterated that the EU could not impose its model of democracy on the Arab world and it was up to the people in those countries to determine what type of democracy they wanted.
Turning to the events in Libya, Dr Borg said that, although Malta was constitutionally neutral, it could not remain neutral between life and death.
“In Libya’s case it is siding with life,” he said, adding that Malta’s apprehension over the course of action to take in Libya was understandable because of the island’s commercial ties and geographic proximity.
Dr Borg defended Malta’s appeal for a ceasefire in Libya, insisting this did not mean retaining the status quo.
“It means that the killing of civilians has to stop so that discussions can take place. Even so, the end of the Libyan regime remains inevitable,” he said.
Unlike the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, he added, in Libya the unrest did not start in the capital Tripoli but in Benghazi, where Muammar Gaddafi always faced resistance.
“The revolution has now degenerated into a civil war but, whatever the outcome of the conflict, Libya will never return to the state it was before February 15, when the first wave of protests started,” Dr Borg said.