The answer to Emily Barbara-Sant’s question (‘Conspicuous absence’, September 28) is simple: it is pointless celebrating an ‘independence’ that does not exist.
The Maltese have no control over their courts (the European Court of Justice rules ok), no control over their borders (the EU rules ok), no control over their laws (the European Parliament rules ok), no controls over trade (the single market rules ok), etc. Soon the Maltese will have no right of veto, no control over taxation, VAT, the armed forces (academic in Malta) and so on and so forth.
Therefore, it is more important for the President and the Prime Minister to rub shoulders with the big boys, in the hope that someone will recognise who on earth they are and pumps up their ego, rather than celebrating something that only the likes of men who waved the Maltese flag and cheered in 1964 on the same spot in Floriana that is being stood on by this bunch of ‘insignificants’ (irrespective of political colour) who will find it difficult to spell ‘independence’ let alone know what it means.