I was able to avoid the so-called peace rally on Saturday by spending the weekend in the altogether more agreeable company of my girlfriend and the wonderful people of Malta. Malta is currently going through a referendum on whether to join the EU, having won the dubious right to apply for entry to that body recently. Naturally, my temptation is to tell any proud Maltese (and they are proud) to say no.
Malta has a mixed and varied history, as rich as that of any much bigger European nation. English is widely spoken there and there are many signs of Britain’s influence on the island when it was a vast Royal Navy base – red telephone kiosks, old English cars, road signs, old-fashioned bakery stores out of an Arnold Bennett novel. The country has a relaxed feel about it and a fairly liberal business regime. I cannot vouch for this with 100 percent certainty, but I would imagine doing business in Malta is going to get a lot more of a bureaucratic ordeal if it does join the EU.
I think French President Chirac’s recent arrogance towards the European nations who have sided with the Bush administration over Iraq will not have gone missed among the Maltese. It may even have a direct impact on the referendum vote, if the antis can use this intelligently. The Maltese will see, in its rudest form, what being a member of the EU means. Obey moi.
Well, the French certainly practice, do as I say, not as I do, but how is that really different from other nations? When was the last time any government did anything for any reason that wasn’t self-serving? Sometimes, they get it right, but more often than not, it is just an exercise in positioning for some collateral goal. The real issue is what concession(s) is Chirac currently after? Discover that, make a deal, and suddenly everybody will be on the same side again (until the next time, that is). Because that is apparently the way it works. Mind you, I am not defending the current French position, much of which I find especially nonsensical.
Damelon, you are certainly right about the above point. I wasn’t intending my comment above to focus directly on France, other than to point out that Chirac’s antics have highlighted how France has for a long time regarded the EU as its fiefdom.
Of course the French pursue, or think they pursue (important distinction) what they think is their national interest. Nothing wrong with that. But at times they try to have us believe in the blarney of transnational progressivism. Chirac has done us, and maybe the Maltese people a favour in showing what tosh that is.
Conspiracy theorists may wonder if Chirac is a fifth columnist working for arch eurosceptics. He is doing a great job.
Oh, I wasn’t disagreeing with you. I was just pointing out that whatever else Chirac is, he is first a crafty, seasoned politician. Yes, he may suffer from a desire to help preserve (or rekindle, or maintain, or create, or insert your favorite theory here…) French supremacy in Europe, but my take on things is still that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and he knows that. I basically think that politicians that have risen to the level he is at are not idiots prone to having outbursts unless they are buying themselves capital in some endeavor, or at least think they are.
I stayed with friends in Malta around three years ago and the EU was a hot topic with just about everyone. Without exception, everyone I spoke to said they did not want to joint the EU. They were all more than alive to the bureaucracy, the bossiness, the nagging, the laws and “directives” that would be imposed on them by faceless, nameless, unelected individuals in Brussels. They were clear in their minds that they didn’t want it. (Don’t forget this is brave and fiercely independent country that, after WWII, was awarded the George Cross for bravery. The whole country won the medal. The correct name for Malta is Malta, GC.) If they join, it will be because they were ram-rodded into it by politicians seeking their own purposes, not Malta’s.
I don’t have any evidence as to whether the extra regulation from the EU is worth the whole free trade-and-free-movement-of-labor thing. Everyone here (more knowledgeable than me, likely) seems to think not.
oops, wrong order.
free trade = good
extra regulation = bad
hopefully, you guessed that :-p
Further to Jonathan’s original posting, we should not be pulling for the Maltese because in some ways their country harks back to a gentler time – although certainly the old-fashioned bakeries et al do help to give this tiny country its easygoing, less than frantic, atmosphere – but because I believe they are going to be steamrollered into voting for something – membership of the EU – which instinct tells them is not in their best interests.
On the other hand, it’s so tiny one wonders whether it could survive being frozen out by a vindictive Brussels mafia.
I’m half-Maltese, and holiday there every year. I think I would be more distressed if
Malta joined the EU than if the UK adopted the Euro. Those guys just won’t know what would hit them. The corruption, the bureacracy… They’ve got all that anyway, but if they had any more, well I just don’t know.