As it happens it turned out to be Guido de Marco’s last public talk. But it was his favourite subject and he could talk about it forever. And we could listen to him forever too.
The last time I saw him was last month, on July 16, when I invited him to address, along with Eddie Fenech Adami, a public dialogue marking the 20th anniversary of Malta’s EU membership application that he had submitted. He accepted immediately, eager as ever to share his thoughts and have his say.
I greeted him and Dr Fenech Adami at the entrance to San Anton Palace. He looked frail, making small steps at a time, down a ramp rather than stairs, pausing frequently, resting on his walking stick. But his frailty soon disappeared the moment he sat down to get on with the job of answering Reno Bugeja’s questions. And his voice, strong and forceful, took over. His mind, lucid and focused, was completely there, dipping in and out of different points in history with remarkable ease.
He recalled how, years before the Nationalist Party took power in 1987, it had already decided that the country should pursue the road to EU membership “because we wanted to give the country a clear direction”. In the event, the government waited until Italy took over the EU presidency in July 1990 to submit the country’s application.
“And I want to say this so that the Maltese people will remember it.” Prof. de Marco said: “No EU country has given us the support that Italy gave us. From the first moment till the end, Italy was the only country to give us full support.”
At that point, the interviewer interrupted. “But, contrary to Cyprus, which had Greece as its champion, Malta never had its own parrinu (sponsor or champion), didn’t it,” he asked.
To which Prof. de Marco promptly and wittily retorted: “We did not need a parrinu. We only needed a parrinu in certain times for students to join the University.”
Turning to the UK and its apparent reluctance over Malta’s bid, Prof. de Marco recalled a dinner hosted by the then Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd. During the after-dinner toast, Mr Hurd stood up and turned to Prime Minister Fenech Adami saying: “My friend Guido has been chasing me all these years. I was not in favour of Malta joining the European Union. Now I can stand here and tell you, Mr Prime Minister, that he has persuaded me to uphold Malta’s bid.”
Mr Hurd was not the only oneto be persuaded by Prof. deMarco.
So why did it take the European Commission a full three years to come out with its opinion (avis) on Malta’s application, asked Mr Bugeja pertinently.
“Because Jacques Delors kept it in his drawer,” Prof. de Marco charged back, referring to the then president of the European Commission.
Why would he do that?
“Because he was under a great deal of criticism; criticism linked with Cyprus, criticism linked with the fact that we were a small country… He used to tell me: Listen Guido, are you sure you want Malta to join? Do you know what it would mean for Malta to have the same right to a veto as Germany? Do you realise that Malta would have the same rights as large countries?”
“… And I used to tell him: Hold on … let’s be clear … we want to join the EU but we do not want to join as second class citizens. We want to join an EU in which we are equal to you and to every other citizen of the Union. Malta is not interested in joining on a second class status. We want to join as full class citizens.”
“I used to tell the British but sometimes the Germans too: Do you know that Luxembourg, a country with the same population as us, is a founder member? Do you know that this country was a member before Spain, Portugal, Ireland?”
And the interviwer egged him on: “But Luxembourg is in the centre of Europe whereas we are on the periphery…”
“That’s even more reason to join,” Prof. de Marco rejoined.
“The speech that I made to (Italian Foreign Minister) Gianni de Michelis 20 years ago was this: We are a country on the periphery. Peripheral countries yearn for the centre more than those in the centre because they feel an even stronger bond to Europe. So we are as European as you are, if not more.”
A true European but also a Mediterranean through and through.
“On that occasion, I mentioned a second bond; not just European Malta but also Mediterranean Malta. The fact that we are also Mediterranean gives us a relevance that others may not have.”
Farewell Guido. If we are here today, we owe it to people like you.
• Listen to the audio recording of Prof. de Marco’s last public dialogue here at www.simonbusuttil.eu/default.asp?module=media&show=file&cat=21&id=278
www.simonbusuttil.eu
Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.