EU fiscal pact ‘usurps’ national parliaments

MPs should seek explanations on the EU fiscal pact rather than support it in Parliament because it renders Malta an “absolute slave” to unelected officials in Brussels, according to former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.

Our MPs do not know the implications of the pact. They have been placed in an embarrassing position

Pointing out the objections raised in the UK, France, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Dr Mifsud Bonnici yesterday questioned the political consensus in Malta over the pact.

“Our MPs do not know the implications of the pact. They have been placed in an embarrassing position because the Prime Minister already agreed to it.

“I don’t know why Labour MPs are also saying they will support this in Parliament. ...It’s either because of political convenience or political ignorance,” the former Labour leader told the press in a characteristically passionate appeal.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici spent an hour explaining his objections to the fiscal pact, which is expected to be approved in Parliament with the support of both sides of the House.

The “counterproductive” pact seeks to achieve economic growth, competitiveness, job creation and social cohesion, he said. Instead, it limited public spending across the board, resulting in economic stagnation, unemployment and social upheaval.

It was also impractical because it expected countries that failed to stick to a three per cent deficit to reduce their annual deficits to no more than 0.5 per cent. Simultaneously, “by some miracle”, countries must also cut their national debts to 60 per cent of their gross domestic product while being so restricted on what they can spend annually.

The pact’s vague wording left it open to different interpretations, which would undoubtedly result in tensions with the European Commission, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.

The “rigid” pact also gave the Commission the final say on a country’s annual budget, creating “uncertainty” each year, he said.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici also complained that each country must have a national institution, which was independent from the government and Parliament, to “monitor” the safeguarding of the pact.

But his biggest objection was that the Commission demanded the pact be entrenched in the constitutions of member states. If members were forced to do so, a dangerous precedent would be set for the future, Dr Mifsud Bonnici warned. “This renders our national Parliament the absolute slave of foreigners in the EU... This will usurp the powers of our national Parliament. This is negating democracy,” he said.

“This is not a question of whether budgets should be balanced... This is an issue of principle. Even if the European Commission was imposing a rose garden, we should not just accept it,” he said, adding that if Malta agreed to such impositions, the Commission could impose whatever it wanted in future.

A referendum on the matter, as was being held in Ireland, would not be a bad idea but only if the public was well-informed, he said.