Derek Bennett reads the Times of Malta
If you head south down the leg of Italy, then keep going for a bit after Sicily, you can't help but bump into a rocky little Island nestling in the Mediterranean sunshine - this is Malta.
Often referred to as the George Cross island because of the bravery the Maltese people showed during World War Two, it's an odd place which I describe as a curates egg - good in parts. My better half and I have only visited the Island once, that was for a week during September 2006, we stayed at the resort of Buggiba which I would not recommend. A lot of Malta is scruffy and unkempt with building works taking place, Buggiba itself has grown rapidly in the last ten years and is not the best planned place - although the Sunflower Hotel where we stayed was pleasant and as long as someone is not looking for the Ritz I would recommend highly, although it's tucked away at the back of the town.
The one good thing about Buggiba was its bus service,
you could jump on one of Malta's rickety old buses and go anywhere on the island quite easily - which is where the good bits come in such as Melehia, Mdina, Valletta, Victoria on Gozo and Golden beach for a days sunbathing.
So what am I going on about Malta for? After all this is not a tourist blog it's an anti-EU blog. Well, my interest in Malta began some years ago when it was announced that it was negotiating membership of the EU as part of one of the ten accession countries and was to hold a referendum on membership.
Knowing some of it's newspapers printed in English I decided to start a letter writing campaign to the Times of Malta and the Independent in the hope the Maltese people would learn from our experiences that EU membership was bad news - especially for your democracy and freedom. Every chance I had I wrote letters the Maltese press, along with a number of other enlightened British anti-EU campaigners.
Malta, after all, had all through its history been conquered one way or another by a whole succession of army's and different cultures, its people had been subservient to all number of occupying nations. Malta finally became a truly independent nation when Dom Mintoff finally kicked the British out. So, the question has to be asked, why on earth did the Maltese want to sacrifice that independence and join the EU? The answer is, just like us in the 1970's, they were conned - stitched up like kippers. They have been told that by joining the EU tiny little Malta would find a place on the worlds stage and that it would become wealthy - yeh - fat chance!
Through my letter writing campaign I had the great fortune to be contacted by Eddie Privitera of the Campaign for National Independence (CNi), who we met on our trip in 2006 and other Maltese anti-EU campaigners. The constant message to the people of Malta was that you were going to lose your freedom to make your own decisions and your state owned shipyards, which is a major industry and employer in Malta, will not only have to be privatised under EU rules on subsidised industries, but it would more than probably have to shrink in size too under EU orders. There were howls of protest from the pro-EU brigade in Malta but, in the end, we were proved right as you will see from the article in the Times of Malta.
These days when I write to the Times of Malta it is usually to remind them that the warnings of us EU-sceptics in the UK are being proved right, as you will see from my latest letter below.
"It is not that long ago when the people of Malta could state that they lived in a free, self governing, democratic country – but not anymore.
Stark proof of this came in the article: "Brussels queries the government's approach on shipyards" (Times 20th August). Next to tourism, Malta’s shipyards were one of the islands main employers, it was a proud state owned industry. Sadly, they are not only being sold off to comply with orders from the EU, but to add insult to injury, the once sovereign Maltese Government are being told by the EU, as written in the Times, they are not allowed to use public funds to ensure the new operator can start off with a clean slate when the yards are privatised next year.
Many of us from the UK, who knows all too well of the EU’s undemocratic ways, wrote to the Times before your referendum and warned that this would happen. Sadly, Malta still joined and threw away its independence. In a year or two the headlines in the Times will be of shipyard closures and even more job losses. You were warned and are still being warned – there are no benefits in EU membership."
2 comments:
I beg to differ regarding the dockyards. Thank God that we joined EU, because now we can stop channeling so much funds into such a useless company. You might now know this, but I do, since I come from the docks area, and know a lot of people who have worked, and still work there. When Malta was under the Brits, the dockyard workers use to say (roughly translated)"as long as she has milk, let's milk Lizzie until she is bone dry" (yes the saying is as crude), and present workers still have the same attitude. Dom Mintoff and his ministers used to send all the unemployed, or better the labourites, to the dockyards, that way he solves the issue of unemployment (pretty much as Mussolini used to do to lower the level of unemployment by creating useless jobs). Our economy has suffered from this attitude, and finally, thanks to the EU (since our politicians are always afraid of loosing votes instead of having the guts to take a stand in benefit of the whole country), we can now close the issue on docks, something which should have been done ages ago!
There might not be any benefits for the UK, but I believe that there are benefits for Malta and it's citizens. I'm going to speak about what affects me directly so I won't be accused for being . Maltese students can participate in Erasmus programmes, and we can benefit from reduced rates when studying abroad. I've always wished to pursue a masters' programme abroad, but I could only afford to dream about it, because the costs were far too much. Now that we are part of the EU, I can pursue a masters degree in an EU country with half the cost I would have had to pay before.
Please do not compare Malta to the UK, there are far too many differences; what might benefit us, might be a burden for you. Always keep that in mind when posting such comments.
It was good to hear ria'a alternative comments regarding Malta's membership of the EU, I hope that she does well with her masters degree.
Howver, if ria relied on an income and work from the shipyards in Malta she may have a slightly different view.
Although ria commented that she can now afford to take a masters degree, thanks to membership of the EU, and I sincerely hopes she achieves her goals, I have to remind her that there will be a far greater cost than the fiscal saving she is making - that cost will be Malta's right to govern itself, make its own laws and retain its democracy and sovereignty.
ria will, like me live to regret her country's membership of the EU. At 21, which is not too different to my age when the UK joined the Common Market, she will live to see decisions made over Malta's head. When we joined the Common Market I was indiferent - but not now. ria, all I can ask is do your best, live and learn and I hope that Malta will one day be able to regain its freedom.
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