MALTA BRIEFING
A personal estimate of Malta's situation with regard to EU Membership
and Her relationship with Great Britain in November 2000
By Edward Spalton ©2000
UPDATED April By Eddie Privitera ©2002
With grateful thanks to friends in Malta's Campaign for National Independence
(CNi), especially to the indefatigable Eddie Privitera, who showed us
round his beloved islands and opened our eyes as well as many doors.
A brief note on Malta's Modern Political History.
As even a casual visitor can see from the prominent Labour and Nationalist
clubs in most towns and villages, political life in Malta is intense
and highly polarised. Turnouts in general elections approach 98%. Party
politics in the modern sense started in the 1920s, when three parties
developed - Nationalist, Labour and the Constitutional Party, which
was deeply pro-British. The Labour Party and Trades Union movement grew
out of the work force in the Royal Navy dockyards. The Constitutional
and Labour Parties then tended to act with some degree of co-operation.
The Nationalist Party was deeply clericalist, supporting and supported
by the immensely powerful RC Church. Some of its members were attracted
to Italian fascism and a number were exiled to Uganda during the war
on this account. As the independence movement gathered strength after
the war, the Constitutional Party faded out, mostly going to Labour.
The Strickland family, which owned the Times of Malta, drifted into
support of the Nationalists because of a personal feud with Dom Mintoff.
The Nationalist Party is regarded as the party of business. I would
liken this to the way in which many Irish businessmen gravitated to
De Valera's Fianna Fail Party. There was not much in between.
In the early Fifties, the Labour Party supported a policy of political
union with the UK, subject to the benefits of the Welfare State being
equally extended to Malta over a period of ten years. When this guarantee
was not forthcoming, Dom Mintoff opted for total independence. The Nationalists
had opposed union with the UK because of the RC Church's unwillingness
to become part of a kingdom, seen as overwhelmingly, heretically protestant.
Independence under the Crown was a stormy affair, arrived at in 1964
under a referendum and constitution devised by the Nationalists, which
gave entrenched privilege and position to the RC Church (again parallel
to De Valera's 1937 constitution of Eire).
The period of the Sixties was marred by extreme inter-party strife which
included violence, bombings and assassinations. The RC church placed
the Labour Party under an interdict. For many years it was a mortal
sin, even to read a Labour Party newspaper. The Church refused all its
rites, including Christian burial, to known Labour Party members. This
has left much bitterness.
The stormy Dom Mintoff proclaimed a republic in 1974 and secured the
departure of British forces in 1979. His foreign policy was one of neutrality
and non-alignment. At various times he appeared to be getting rather
close to the Communist powers (Red China built extensive dockyard facilities)
and to the regime of Colonel Gadaffi in neighbouring Libya. He is not
now highly regarded among the Labour Party, because he defied the party
whip and brought down the last Labour government.
The Present Situation.
The present Nationalist (PN) administration, under long-serving leader
and Prime Minister Dr. Fenech Adami has a majority of 35 to 30 in Parliament
and is pushing ahead with all possible speed in its application for
EU membership. The only independently conducted opinion poll showed
a majority of 38% to 32% against EU membership with the rest undecided.
(October 2000)
If the English language press is taken as a guide, Dr. Fenech Adami
is regarded as "a safe pair of hands", having brought stability
after the turbulent Mintoff years of "tax and spend". This
impression does not match the facts. The national debt has increased
enormously under the Nationalists, who have also given guarantees to
parasatatal companies. The government is bedevilled by financial deficits
through they are struggling to reduce them to comply with EU requirements
for joining the Euro. This will be a continuing source of conflict with
the powerful General Workers' Union.
The present Labour Party leader, Dr. Alfred Sant, is a moderniser, somewhat
to the right of the previous leader and former Labour Prime Minister,
Dr. Mifsud Bonnici. Dr. Sant is reputed to have succeeded in appealing
to smaller businesses, as well as to Labour's traditional constituency.
The General Workers' Union (GWU) is a massive organisation with a claimed
membership of 48,000 out of a total population of 380,000. It is heavily
entrenched in the large public and semi-state sector, created under
Labour administrations.
Dr. Mifsud Bonnici is a former Labour Prime Minister and is the Chairman
of the Campaign for National Independence (CNi). He was originally from
a Nationalist family and, during his early career, involved in a Catholic
movement for social welfare. He crossed the Rubicon to the Labour Party
on this issue and is highly respected as a man of principle. As well
as chairing CNi, he is legal adviser to the General Workers' Union.
In spite of the highly polarised political situation, CNi under his
leadership has attracted a number of businessmen from the Nationalist
camp. They tend to express their public support for continued independence
through a recently established business association rather than directly
through CNi. The Nationalist press treats CNi as a Labour front organisation.
With few exceptions, Malta's industries and agriculture are small in
scale and will not stand up to the gale of EU competition, if present
restrictions and import duties are removed. Businesses involved in the
substantial importing sector, on the other hand, tend to favour EU membership.
Farmers make up about 2% of the population and are said to be deeply
Nationalist and under clerical influence. Their small-scale industry
will face a holocaust under EU competition but they appear to accept
the assurances that the government is giving them about the coming wonders
of EU grants and subsidies. However, I have since been told that my
remarks on a radio programme in November 2000, have caused some awakening.
The deep, political polarisation extends to the broadcast media. The
parties have their own radio and TV stations. The public broadcasting
service is supposedly under some duty of impartiality but is seen as
a Nationalist/pro-EU organisation, rather like the BBC in Britain but
more so.
Cultural Climate
Most British people feel instantly at home in Malta. The pillar-boxes
are red. They drive on the left and a high proportion of people speak
English. Restaurants advertise "succulent Sunday roasts" (lamb
with mint sauce too!) catering as much for Maltese people as for tourists.
Poppy sellers abound before Remembrance Sunday, which is dignified by
a service and parade in the presence of the President of the Republic.
Whilst its memory is fading, Malta is proud of its wartime record.
Even people who took part in agitation for independence look back on
their years in the British services with some affection. However, the
Maltese language is now the first language of the state and most Maltese
now meet British people only as tourists.
There is a section of society, which speaks English as its first language
and thereby excludes itself from full participation in political life.
Because of the orientation of the English language press, they tend
to be instinctively Nationalist and to look down on the "uneducated"
who speak only or mainly Maltese. Upon its official adoption, many adults
had some difficult in learning written Maltese. Official, written and
learned languages had previously been either English or Italian.
The EU propaganda offensive appears to have been very successful in
the University and higher education sectors. Students seem to have bought
the proposition that the EU gives them enhanced study and work opportunities.
The EU is regarded as modern and progressive. This message is massively
supported in the English language press, as are all aspects of EU "integration".
The University staff is said to be effectively a Nationalist closed
shop with patronage used accordingly. Labour Party supporters see the
opening of the University to non-Maltese as a threat to their system
of student stipends, which could not be afforded for all comers under
EU "equal access" policies.
Edward Spalton
UPDATE April 2002 by Eddie Privitera
The Malta EU Information Centre has started its campaign of pro-EU propaganda
all over Malta and Gozo - in schools, in government departments, in
local council offices etc. It is organising regular public lectures
by EU officials, such as Gunther Verheugen and others. (Verheugen threatened
the Czechs that if they voted for a particular party they would not
become members of the European Union!). The Maltese government has now
increased its funding from LM 300,000 to LM 900,000 (about œ Stg
1,500,000)* this year alone. This has made it possible for daily EU
TV spots on the State TV and also on private TV stations such as Smash
TV and Max TV, as well as radio clips on all radio stations and full
page adverts in all newspapers. All this is having some effect as recent
public opinion surveys tend to show a shift towards the "Yes"
side.
The Labour Party has not yet really started its campaign in a big way
due, no doubt, to not having the funds to rival those available to MIC.
One consideration to be kept in mind is that, in the surveys held, a
very high percentage - around 40% -either did not respond or else said
they were still undecided.
* With Malta's population of only 380,000, this equates to a £229,000,000
advertising campaign in Britain at the same amount per head of population.
The figure does not include EU spending through the European Movement,
the EU representative's office or any EU support activities through
embassies of EU countries.
An interesting development has been the local council elections that
have been held these last three years. Two years ago the National Party
won by about 3% advantage over Labour. Last year Labour won by just
1%. On 9th March 2002 Labour got 52.24% while the PN got 44.8%.
Still the turnout for the council elections was only 73% when at General
Elections we have a 96% turnout. So one cannot be too sure of how the
general election vote will go.
The Broadcasting Authority has now added another IMBALANCED programme
on the State TV (PBS) to add to MIC's programmes. It has invited the
PN, MLP, CNI, "Yes" Campaign and AD (The Green Party which
is also in favour of membership) and a representative of the Constituted
Bodies (typical Government-appointed corporatist bodies, who are almost
all in favour of membership) to take part in weekly, one hour programmes
on "Europe - the future". Labour has refused to take part
because it holds that this new programme was not going to balance the
already existing programmes of MIC - instead it was going to create
another imbalanced programme.
In fact, both Labour and CNI have gone to court, asking to be given
the same airtime as MIC to air opposing views. The case still has to
be heard and decided. Probably the cases will end up before the European
Court of Human Rights. (Not the EU Court but that of the Council of
Europe)
The first programme was held last Thursday (21 March). So Dr Mifsud
Bonnici found himself facing three speakers who were all pro-EU! He
did a very good job but the imbalance can affect come people. CNI has
now also taken this latest case to court.
Because of the inequality of funding, the Labour Party (MLP) has said
that it will not be bound by a "Yes" vote in the Referendum
if it should come to power in a General Election.
