Former President Eddie Fenech Adami argued before University students this morning that the use of the veto in EU decision-making would not benefit the country but would create antagonism against it.
Dr Fenech Adami was replying to questions before signing copies of his autobiography Eddie: My Journey.
Earlier, he had the students giggling when he described how, in his early days in politics, he used to attract attention by going around his district in an old Fiat Cinque Cento with an amplifier on the back seat and a loud speaker sticking out of the sun roof.
For his time, it was a novel way of attracting attention, he said, but he could not help envy today's politicians who had television, radio and the internet as their communication tools.
Dr Fenech Adami was replying to questions before signing copies of his autobiography Eddie: My Journey.
Getting started in politics, especially in his time, was not easy, he said. At one time he only had a dog listening to him in one of his corner meetings.
Budding politicians had to persevere, they had to reach out to the people and show them that they were in it for the common good.
"People will see through you if you are not there for the right reason," he said.
The students initially appeared reluctant to put questions, but a large number produced copies of the autobiography when the book signing started.
Dr Fenech Adami spoke about how the murder of Raymond Caruana was the lowest point of his long political life, and EU accession was the highest.
In his view, he said, given the way bullets had been sprayed on the façade of Gudja PN club, whoever carried out the shooting may not have actually intended killing anyone.
Asked about how no one was arraigned, he pointed out how one person was charged but passed away before he could face trial.
On the EU, he said accession for Malta had been a dream since his student days.
EU membership gave Malta a voice which was listened to in the highest echelons of Europe, he said.
Asked whether Malta should use its veto when its voice was not heard, Dr Fenech Adami said he did not think that using a veto really worked, and it created antagonism for the country.
Indeed, one of the most positive aspects of the EU was that most decisions were taken by consensus.
As was to be expected in an activity at the University, Dr Fenech Adami reminisced about former rector Fr Peter Serracino Inglott, saying he was lucky to have had him as one of his advisers.
He recalled how he first met Fr Serracino Inglott in the library of the old University.
"He stood out wherever he went, and in whatever he did, I owe him a lot, and the country owes him a lot," Dr Fenech Adami said.
He also spoke about the courage of his late wife Mary, particularly during the attack on their home on October 15, 1979, when she was assaulted, punched and thrown out of her own home three times.
He said he could still remember how shattered glass crunched underfoot on the ground floor, with not a single glass pane having survived. He also recalled how somebody had gone into the room of his 80-year-old mother and stolen her jewellery.
Some of those involved were known, he said, but there were no prosecutions.
Dr Fenech Adami said, however, that he did not think that Maltese politics would ever return to those violent times.
Dr Fenech Adami was introduced by Steve Mallia, editor-in-chief of Times of Malta, who assisted in the writing of the autobiography.