The referendum on the issue of Malta's membership of the European Union has come and gone. The result, by any democratic standards that one abides by, is very clear. There were more yes votes than no and, as such, the electorate has expressed itself in favour of Malta joining the Union on May 1, 2004.
The game of what denominator to use to determine the result does not form part of the democratic process and therefore cannot be used. As was widely expected, we now have a general election on our hands and in four weeks' time we would have completed the political cycle that we were expecting at the beginning of this year.
No one doubts the necessity of this process because we live in a country where the rule of law applies. Circumstances dictated that the EU referendum be held in the same year as that of the general election. If negotiations with the European Union had protracted for a further two years or if they were concluded much earlier than December last year, there would have been an appreciable lapse of time between the holding of the referendum and the general election. Since this did not happen, it is only right that they are held close to each other but on separate dates.
However, for business this may seem to be irrelevant. Political factors are one of those uncontrollable factors that business has to contend with and adjust to, in its daily efforts to grow, make profit and invest.
For business, politics is only an issue when this is seen to impact, positively or negatively, on performance. On this occasion the political factors have become more crucial than ever. They should not have been so, but they are because one is not facing a general election where there could be or not be a change in government, but a general election where one could see the prospect of EU membership vanish into thin air.
This could happen even though a majority has expressed itself in favour of EU membership and even though the business sector in its entirety, through the institutions that represent it, has expressed itself in favour of the country's membership of the EU purely for economic reasons. This is where the business sector gets into a quandary and finds itself in a situation that could become unmanageable.
From a business perspective, it is as if it is not enough that one has to grapple with the international economic situation, with dampened demand, thus impacting also on our internal demand, given the country's reliance on exports of goods and services and foreign direct investment for its economic growth.
Neither is it enough to seek to grow with the prospect of a war looming ever closer, with all the consequences that such a war would bring on our economy. The business sector now has to cope with a great element of political uncertainty and a loss of tranquillity in this country.
For the business sector it is like going back 20 years. The business sector knows that it must take certain risks (profit is in effect a reward for such risks and if there were no risk there would be no justification for profit) and over the last 24 months it did take a number of risks.
However, it continued to invest in Malta with the certainty that the rule of law and democratic principles will continue to be respected in this country. It now finds that this is not so.
It is this kind of uncertainty that the business sector in Malta cannot afford to have because it would remove the sense of stability that we require to prosper. It would make us no different from some Third World countries.
The business sector also requires tranquillity. It cannot afford to wake up in the morning wondering what is going to happen next, and at the same time seeking to grow and thrive.
Without this tranquillity and peace of mind, the business sector would be averse to taking even the most normal of business risks. It cannot follow a business strategy of pursuing long-term gains, a strategy that we know brings with it further investment; but it would be constrained to adopt a strategy of maximising short-term gains, lest the business climate gets any worse.
Therefore, the business sector has the right to demand that there be the certainty that the rule of law and democratic principles will be respected. It also has a right to demand that tranquillity be restored to this country.
The absence of such certainty and tranquillity can only lead to a floundering of the business sector, given the challenge of competitiveness, the international economic slowdown and the threat of war that it has to face.