I am not at all surprised that the government is in a quandary about the new visa regime with Libya, arising with Malta's accession to the European Union, which has a common visa policy. I had expressed myself countless times, on behalf of the opposition, on the potential problems that would arise with the imposition of a visa requirement on Libyan citizens travelling to Malta. This in view of the obvious consequence that, on the basis of reciprocity at best and as a retaliatory measure at worst, the Libyan government would likewise impose the same condition on Maltese citizens travelling to Libya. This is unavoidably happening.

I had grown weary of the Deputy Prime Minister's assurances, prior to and after accession, that the transition would be as rosy as flowers blossoming in a new spring. Of course he knew very well that, eventually, his government would have to face the music. But it was politically convenient to play cool at a time when it was necessary to depict the EU as the alpha and the omega of our existence.

Needless to mention, accession was destined to bring about advantages. But it also meant that in other areas where Malta enjoyed privileged relations that benefited the economy vis à vis third countries, like Libya, there would be disadvantages too. The main thrust of government policy up to a few months ago was to highlight the advantages and inexorably to deny the cons. But reality has now caught up with it.

Will the Deputy Prime Minister hold on to his assurances now as panic-stricken officials from both his and from the Foreign Affairs ministries are painfully grappling with the intricacies of the problem?

Defending the indefensible would be tantamount to a lie to the nation as we know very well what is going on at this very moment.

A few weeks ago it was triumphantly announced that the Libyan authorities had eased certain requirements that were making life difficult for Maltese businessmen and workers to travel and stay in Libya. But till this very day nothing has changed. Read the complaints that regularly flow in to the media from businessmen who are experiencing the reality of the new visa regime between Malta and Libya - they are more than adequate responses to any futile and pathetic ministerial assurance that is now worth tuppence!

There is no more room where to run and hide.

In 2003 Malta imposed the visa requirement on all North African countries, save Libya, in preparation for the coming adoption of the EU common visa policy. Of course it could afford to do so on account of the little economic value of relations existing between them. But the government delayed the imposition of the visa regime on Libya for as long as it could, indeed up to the date of accession, as it knew very well that the visa requirement would not go down well with the Libyans, as well as on account of the myriad economic and political interests existing between the two countries that were destined to suffer unless timely and properly taken care of.

The government pretended, up to a few weeks ago, that it could enjoy the benefits of accession and retain the privileges it enjoyed prior to accession. But experience is showing that this cannot be the case. This is more than poetic justice as the Labour Party's former foreign policy alternative used to be described as an impossible attempt at trying to enjoy the benefits of both worlds.

Admittedly, the delay in imposing the visa on Libya was, in 2003, a correct political decision. But the government should have been far sighted enough to use the interim period to understand what changes would be brought about by the imposition of the new visa regime on Libya and what impact they would eventually have on us and on them.

It could have then tried to negotiate with the Libyan authorities, before accession, a smooth transitional mechanism for the processing of visas with a view to eliminating oddities of procedure that the government is only coming to terms with now that problems are arising.

The government cannot accuse the opposition, and particularly the undersigned, of trying to make political mileage of the difficulties created by the new visa regime. I am on record in warning the government several times since 1999, in my writings and in official party statements in and outside Parliament, of the impending dangers and of the need to look after national interests first. But they had all fallen on deaf ears and what we heard instead was the sweet sound of birds chirping in the promise of a new spring.

Dr Gulia is Shadow Minister for Home Affairs.