As published on the Times of Malta: 31/01/2014.
The Prime Minister has finally been constrained to listen to reason. Reason alone, unfortunately, was not enough. The Opposition was not enough, the social partners were not enough. It had to take a European Parliament resolution and the threat of infringement procedures for him to realise that there was a coffee pot brewing and for reason to prevail.
He had already shown us that he was upset that the Socialist Group in the European Parliament had ignored his pleas and joined all the other major parties to stand up and say that the sale of Maltese, and, therefore, EU citizenship, with no genuine links to Malta or the Union was just not on.
Just last week, he resorted to bluster and intimidation to try and have his way against the forces of reason. By all accounts, his performance in Parliament was just another fuming tirade against those of us who did not agree with him.
Now, despite the theatrics and the hysterics, he has finally agreed to change his scheme to introduce an ‘effective residency’ requirement, which, we all told him months ago, needed to be a fundamental feature of any scheme.
All his efforts to deflect attention from the fact that he had become totally isolated, using hollow and disproven allegations that other EU member states also sell citizenship without any ties to their countries and that this was all a matter of ‘competition’, failed dismally. He did, however, succeed in confirming that he suffers from a total lack of understanding of how the EU functions.
It is not so many days ago when 90 per cent of MEPs voted against him and he shouted and ranted about not bowing down before anyone on this issue, evoking memories of attitudes and political stances long passé.
Then, the European Commission stepped in and he declared that he was going to deal only with them. And he did, meekly agreeing to change the scheme for the third time and finally accepting what we, the Nationalist Opposition, had long advised on behalf of reason and sense.
After dragging Malta’s reputation through the mud for the past four months, he has accepted that Malta’s new citizens will at least now actually have to live on the islands and forge some ties before being eligible for citizenship.
Did the Prime Minister really need to waste all that time, money and goodwill, watching as Malta’s reputation kept getting slammed, before he just said ‘yes sir’ to the European Commission? Of course, not.
He played poker and he lost. That would not be so bad were the chips on the table not our chips. It’s our reputation he gambled away and our good name, which he risked tarnishing for good. His actions have impacted negatively on the good name which we had painstakingly built for Malta over a period of years. And for what?
Let the Labour government now hide behind their claim that the scheme will lead to €1 billion inflow of cash. Slightly (sic) revised figures from the €8 million that the Finance Minister had told the European Parliament that the scheme should raise. For all we know, it will soon be €2 billion or €200 billion, for that matter.
I suppose we should be thankful that Labour’s ministers are no longer going around telling the world that Malta is ‘short of people of calibre’.
What this sad episode has shown is that the Labour Party’s line of reasoning seems to be, when whatever half-baked strategy they cook up is slammed in the world’s media, blame it on a Nationalist conspiracy.
If there is ever a vote, expect everyone to vote in favour of it, irrespective of the merits, simply because it is a Joseph Muscat ide. Call anyone who dares to disagree a traitor. Then, make a U-turn and try to make people forget by bandying around promises of mountains of money; fool’s gold, one could say.
I have always maintained that I am proud to be Maltese and proud to be European. I represent Maltese and Gozitans, irrespective of political leanings and when those interests are different to those of Muscat or of his commercial partners I shall always be on the side of the people.
The political and personal attacks have been increasing and I am sure that they will grow stronger still. Notwithstanding the bullying and attempts at intimidation, we will never balk when it comes to defending our interests.
Muscat and his government refused to listen to the Opposition, to civil society and to the European Parliament. He then was made to listen in no uncertain terms by the European Commission. It should never have gone that far. He could have saved us all the shame.
This week’s news is a victory. It is not a victory for me, or for Simon Busuttil, or for the Nationalist Party. It is a victory for reason and good sense.
It is a victory for all of us, including the Prime Minister himself, who should learn from this and, next time round, which, hopefully, there won’t be, he’ll think, consult, listen and then act and not the other way round. Hopefully…
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Roberta Metsola is a Nationalist MEP.
