MEP Alfred Sant is reported (February 1) quoting a study claimed to reveal that Malta would be the only EU state affected negatively by the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and the EU.
I have just imported, for personal use, a year’s supply of a patented food supplement (unavailable in the EU) costing $499 (inclusive of US postage) and had to pay €74 Malta Customs duty and VAT. As everybody knows, one would have to pay nothing if it had been posted in the EU.
One cannot help remember a similar situation here in Malta with duty payable on all foreign goods (to protect inferior Maltese stuff) before we become EU members – an obvious advance for us but which Sant had recommended against and had actually created a political crisis over interpretation of the referendum result which was resolved only by a general election.
Free trade and socialism apparently don’t mix.