European Parliament President Pat Cox yesterday urged the Maltese to decide once and for all whether they want to join the EU when the times comes.
Speaking at a news conference after addressing parliament and having talks with the President, prime minister and the Labour leader, Mr Cox said:
"I hope that there will not be a situation where you plug in and some months later you decide to plug out. You have to be strategic, whoever makes the choice and whichever choice you make.
"Out of the different meetings I held with different leaders in Malta, that would be the appeal that I would like to make: get your act together. You know my preference to what I like to see but I do not have a vote here. So it`s what you would like to see. Be strategic in the end. Allow us to have the partnership in whichever form it would emerge and that people can accept and live with."
In the morning, Mr Cox made a strong speech in parliament where he urged the Maltese to "seize the moment" presented by EU membership.
"The choice is yours, not mine, our door is open, our hearts are open to you. You have a long, complex and wonderful history of survival. I believe, but my belief is still not your choice, that is your privilege, but I believe you can thrive in that context and I would say to you personally, I really think you should seize the moment, but the choice to seize it or not is yours."
He emphasised that Malta would not lose its identity if it joined the EU.
One of the most animated moments of Mr Cox`s visit was his meeting with Labour Party leader Alfred Sant.
Reporters had only been invited to cover the initial exchanges, but Dr Sant invited the press to stay on for the duration of the meeting.
A former journalist himself, Mr Cox took Dr Sant to task on a number of issues.
When Dr Sant told him that Malta`s EU membership could be interpreted as meaning that the island was a threat to either the north or the south of the Mediterranean, Mr Cox asked Dr Sant: "A threat to whom? This is part of your imagination."
Mr Cox added that it sounded like a highly abstract argument to him, especially for the man in the street.
Dr Sant then told him that the Maltese were very interested in the concept of neutrality and that the MLP was explaining its policy to the people.
At this point Mr Cox said he was hoping that they (the man in the street) would not get the impression that the EU was a threat to any part of the Mediterranean. The EU was a force which was contributing to peace in the region. He said that one should take into account the contribution made by the EU in defusing the situation at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem over the past weeks. He said the EU was a very positive force for the Mediterranean.
When Dr Sant explained that the Labour Party wanted the country to remain neutral and that the common foreign and security policy of the EU was creating the conditions for the setting up of a military alliance, Mr Cox said that such a concept sounded like a "cold-war, old-style neutrality".
Mr Cox repeatedly asked Dr Sant about his stand on the referendum. Dr Sant said the referendum was a tool in the government`s hands and that the Labour Party would only be bound by the outcome of the general election.
On this point, Mr Cox told Dr Sant he was aware that the MLP`s policy was built around the slogan of `Switzerland of the Mediterranean` and that the Swiss believed in holding referenda to decide on important issues: "It is very Swiss to hold a referendum."
When Dr Sant mentioned that the former Labour government had withdrawn Malta`s participation from the Partnership for Peace programme, Mr Cox told Dr Sant that if he remembered well the only three other countries that had refused to participate in the PFP were Tajikistan, the Vatican and Liechtenstein.
During the news conference, Mr Cox said he was very pleased to meet Dr Sant and that he respected his views.
He said it was up to the Maltese to take the final decision. Stressing that he was speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the European parliament, he said he "respectfully disagreed with Dr Sant".
On EU membership, he said: "It is your choice. Do you want to participate in the decision making process? Do you want to be at the table of the European Commission? Do you want to be at the table of the Council of Ministers? Do you want to actively participate in the European Parliament? Those are the consequential dimensions of how you choose in your internal debate."
Eddie Fenech Adami said: "I was always convinced that the European Parliament was extremely interested in the enlargement and I appreciate the keen interest Mr Cox is showing insofar as Malta`s membership bid is concerned."
Mr Cox said he had explained to Dr Fenech Adami how the European Parliament intended to involve Maltese MPs in a major debate in the European Parliament on the state of enlargement.
He said that if and when Malta made up its mind on the issue of the EU membership, the European Parliament would extend an invitation for Maltese MPs to regularly take part in work related to the European Parliament.
He also referred to the issue of how much funding Malta will receive from the EU upon accession. Mr Cox said that the European Parliament would ensure that the island would not be a net contributor.
"There is a guarantee in this respect. We will not let that happen."
During his visit, Mr Cox also met with students from the Mini-European Assembly of the National Students Travel Foundation and gave a public speech on enlargement at the Aula Magna of the old university in Valletta.