Azzjoni Nazzjonali

“Europe’s nations should be guided towards the super-state without their people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as having an economic purpose but which will eventually and irreversibly lead to federation.” Jean Monet (1952)

Democracy is about the free expression of the people’s will and equally, the readiness of governments to respect that same will. If either is missing then there is no democracy except in shell form. When the European Union refused to accept the verdict of the Danes in 1992 who rejected Maastricht, the verdict of the French and Dutch people in 2005 who rejected the proposed European Constitution, followed by the Irish in 2008, then the European Dream that our MEPs pay lip service to in their posh and rarefied Brussels world, is nothing but the death of national parliaments as we know them.


An EU timeline

Following the loss and destruction of World War II, when Europe tore itself apart, European leaders decided to cooperate with each other in order to prevent a similar disaster. French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman announced a plan for France and Germany to pool coal and steel production and invited other states to join them. Solidarity in production, he said, would make war between France and Germany “not merely unthinkable but materially impossible”. The cry was to cooperate not to compete, and after the devastation of the war it made sense.

So the European Coal and Steel Community was created in 1951 with six members; Germany, France, the Benelux states and Italy. This very manageable number allowed the individual states to gather around the table on an equal basis and discuss how to create a huge trading area that would be to the benefit of all their citizens. This worked so well that the same six countries, in 1957, signed the Treaty of Rome which brought into existence the European Economic Community intended to create a common market customs union plus free movement of capital and labour.

In 1960 an alternative to the EEC emerged when Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK set up EFTA, the European Free Trade Association. Like the EEC, EFTA aimed to establish free trade but it opposed uniform external tariffs and saw no need for supranational institutions.

In 1973, Britain, Ireland and Norway joined the EEC and the signposts towards a European state became clearer. In 1986 the EU flag was unveiled and a year later, the Single European Act entered into force. It abolished national vetoes in a host of areas relating to the single market, increased the legislative powers of the European parliament and marked the first commitment by member states to create a European Union. In 1991 the Treaty of Maastricht turned the Economic Community into a Union. It got a rough ride. The Danes rejected it in June 1992 and only accepted it in a second vote in May 1993 after receiving an opt-out on monetary union like the UK. In France it squeaked home by just 50.4 to 49.7. There was also evidence of public discontent in other countries including Germany and the UK.

The fall of communism had created a queue of free countries all needing help in order to build and restructure. They turned to the EU money and in 1997 the Treaty of Amsterdam opened the door to the East European countries. More national vetoes were abolished. Laws on employment and discrimination were strengthened and the social chapter of the Maastricht treaty became an official part of EU law.

In 2002 the euro came in and soon after, the first attempts to introduce an EU Constitution appeared. However in 2005, voters in referendums in both France and the Netherlands rejected their governments’ plans to ratify the EU constitution. The Federalists though, were not to be so easily put off. They rebottled the first Constitution and labelled it the Treaty of Lisbon/The Reform Treaty and asked for its ratification. In 2008 however, in a national referendum as demanded by the country’s Constitution, Ireland narrowly rejected the Treaty of Lisbon.

But the European Federalists are now used to this sort of thing. They ganged up on Ireland and forced it to have a second referendum, which will take place today. Barroso has visited Ireland and dangled e14.8 million of European taxpayers’ money in front of their eyes at a time of deep recession. Other leaders have spoken more threateningly.



Malta and Federation

Why is all this important to us in Malta? Ireland is many times Malta’s size and yet it has witnessed a flagrant invasion of its internal affairs. What is happening to Ireland is a clear sign of what will happen to anybody who dares to buck the Federalists. Jean Monet, one of the founding fathers of the EU made that amply clear from as early as 1952. This was not to be a Europe of the people. The people were to be tricked into forming a super-state that would have the power to ignore all dissent by the money at its disposal. It was money that secured an Irish “yes” after their rejection of the Treaty of Nice. It is money that will now secure their acceptance of the rejected Constitution. And it is money, vast amounts of it, that holds together the thousands that feed off the Brussels gravy train.

Malta did not hold out, as Ireland did, in order to receive monies that we are desperate for. Our parliament ratified the Treaty of Lisbon in double quick time with the eager consent of the two parties that, ironically, at the moment are arguing over which of the two obtained real independence for Malta. They dare speak of Malta’s Independence when, before we joined the EU, they passed a law that made our Constitution subservient to the European Parliament.



A new parliament building for what?

The Treaty of Lisbon has thrown a stop to the nation state of course. In view of the constant rejections of the people of Europe, in view of the ever dwindling number who bother to vote in EU elections, Lisbon offers national parliaments the right to challenge a piece of European legislation that they consider unnecessary. The Commission will in future send draft laws directly to national parliaments. But notice how difficult it will be for Malta to reject anything unless her objections are seriously supported by other states.

If a third of the member states express concerns, the Commission will have to explain why the legislation is needed, or else submit a redrafted version. If half of them are unhappy, a majority of member-states or MEPs can insist that the draft be dropped altogether. But the Irish referendum is demonstrating that “NO” votes don’t count in the EU. And we are all aware how poorly supported Malta’s burden-sharing proposals have been. If the level of support there (five minnows plus France) is what we can expect, then Malta’s real parliament has moved to Brussels and we certainly do not need a new one to house what will become the equivalent of an EU Local Council.



A Europe of united states

We at Azzjoni Nazzjonali do not accept the idea of a federal Europe for the simple reason that our small size will render us invisible when the big issues come along. If the EU ignored the vast populations of France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Ireland twice, it will certainly not let any of its plans be thwarted by what they consider a tiny group of Christianised Arabs on its perimeter. What Azzjoni Nazzjonali wants is not a United States of Europe but a Europe of united states, gathered round a table amicably thrashing out their problems. We want a Europe of networks not one where Malta is looked upon as a mere hindrance that can always be relied to shut up if enough euros are thrown its way. This is not what the Maltese people voted for in 2004. This is certainly not what the Maltese people celebrated in 1964.

And Azzjoni Nazzjonali is not alone in this regard. The German High Court has asked Parliament to pass a law saying that if an EU law goes against German interests, it has to be debated in parliament. The Czech president has refused to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon and is hoping the British elections will return the Tories to power, for they have promised to hold a national referendum if the Treaty of Lisbon had not, by then, been ratified by all the member states.

The Irish will probably today once more bow their heads to their paymasters. After all they have received enormous sums of money from the EU, millions which helped their country to emerge from poverty and mediocrity. But like everybody who allows money to illuminate his vision, the Irish and all the rest of us in the EU will live to rue the day. As I said at the beginning, democracy depends on the free expression of the people and the willingness of the ruling class to accept that they are there to represent the people’s will. The EU is not driven by people. It is not driven for people either. The EU is driven by elites who have managed to secure the European nations’ treasure chests and are doing very well out of it.

No system of government will endure unless it is based on acceptance by a clear majority of the people. Less and less Europeans are bothering to vote in EU elections. More and more Europeans are increasingly becoming jaundiced about the EU. The clear rejection of democratic values by the Brussels elites when obstacles to their greed and ambition are put in their way, makes it amply clear that the EU is not driven by the citizens of Europe. It is a repackaged old dream. Charlemagne tried it, the Popes tried it, Napoleon tried it, Hitler tried it. They all failed but at a huge cost in terms of lives.

The irony of it all is that the recipe for recovery has turned out to be no different from that of disaster. The EU, as cast, has no future. What I do not yet know is what the cost of its failure will be when it comes about in the fullness of time.



Josie Muscat is Leader, Azzjoni Nazzjonali