The next decade matters more than the first

The first decade of EU membership must be judged to have been a successful one. Success encourages us to look to the future with greater confidence. For it is self-confidence more than anything else that dictates the pace of economic growth and political stability.
The first decade of EU membership has allowed us to reap dividends. But it has also uncovered the extent of the outstanding tasks that we still need to perform. For this reason, the next decade of membership is bound to be more crucial than the past one.
One political conclusion can be drawn from this positive membership experience. Labour cannot be trusted with good judgement. When you look back and remember how Alfred Sant and the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat opposed membership tooth and nail, and compare that with their behaviour now, as they pose as if they have been EU supporters all their lives, you can immediately conclude what a big mistake would have been committed had they had their way.
To be fair, Alfred Sant continues to describe our EU Membership in terms of some living hell but this obviously begs the question as to why he is vying to be part of it in the most integral of manners.
When Labour gets it wrong, it does so big time! Wait a couple of years and when the hasty gimmicks that they call decisions begin to yield results, we the people will be left with the task of trying to mend things.
There are various angles which can be taken in assessing the first ten years of membership. But nothing gives a fuller picture than that which takes stock of the key sectors; social, economic, cultural and political. This may ring a bit strange to those who habitually weigh the pros and cons of membership by answering the question “how much did we get out of it?”
It is an angle that admits less tangible gains than economic ones that need to be considered. Ultimately we have to ask ourselves where would we be today, had we not joined the EU? Would we have been better or worse off?
It is difficult to give a precise answer to such a question or to quantify it. However one only has to take stock of what has been achieved and calculate how long it would have taken us to attain the same achievements on our own steam.
Membership has opened up our society in a very definite way. It has forced us to liberalize the domestic market, join the single European market and then the euro zone, and open ourselves up to all the pressures, challenges and opportunities that come from Europe and the rest of the world. It has jolted the way we do business.
Sectors long resistant to change were induced to change. Maltese laws have expanded to include more complex and sophisticated legal acts such as those governing competition, consumer protection, food safety and the protection of human and animal health. But enforcement remains a challenge even though we have advanced on this road as well.
Politically we have also matured in some ways. 10 years ago Malta was divided down the middle into two camps, one supporting membership, the other opposing it. After losing the 2003 referendum and election, the Labour Party changed its stand on membership, even though an anti-EU culture nurtured by more than a decade of strong opposition to membership still simmers under the surface, at times bursting out into the open.
When we discuss defence and security matters, Malta is certainly safer than it was before, even though the Mediterranean region has become more turbulent. Before membership, we had a confusing set of international objectives. But now all that is changed. We are now full participants in the EU’s foreign and defence policies and can rely on the solidarity of the rest of the member states if we are threatened.
This has strengthened our confidence, as well as peace of mind. Surely no one can seriously argue that the situation existing before membership that often saw us teaming up with Libya and Algeria, North Korea and states of their kind was more reassuring than being an EU member state? Those policies certainly did not improve our international image.
However having said all this, we have to be aware that there are still problems that need to be tackled. For a start, we need to utilize our human resources more fully and efficiently than we have done in the past to ensure the maximum effect in the institutions and the strongest responsiveness by our public service.
The changes that have taken place in the public service since the election do not augur that the authorities have the right attitude and the willingness to finally close this great gap that still tears the public service apart. If we continue to shun meritocracy in this sector, we are going to face problems.
Another challenge that we must face is to start to be honest to ourselves and admit that there are various other problems that have still to be overcome and that we need to tackle with a collective, national spirit.
In the area of renewable energy, we are still far from achieving our targets and the same can be said of waste treatment, which can become a serious threat unless we tackle it. In education, we still fall behind the other member states with respect to some key markers, gender equality is still far from our reach and with respect to the ease of doing business – so essential for our competitiveness – we stand at the very bottom of the EU league.
Membership of the Euro zone in 2008 was a wise step that boosted our economic activity in no small way. But the pressures to maintain public spending within the limits dictated by the treaties and to stop the national debt, now past the 5 billion euro mark, from growing we need to make greater efforts.
Sometimes in the merry-go-round of Maltese politics, people are not told the truth that what happened to Greece and other southern European countries could easily become our lot unless we reverse certain trends.
Membership and the transfer of more than €1.2 billion, which we will be receiving from the EU budget in the next seven years, need to be used wisely to help us achieve these objectives. Of course they can be used differently to create a “feel good factor”. But that effect will pass eventually and we will be left with bigger problems to deal with.
In a word then, the first ten years have been very good. They have restored a sense of confidence and purpose in us. They have left us some dividends and created a basis for change. But they have also uncovered the extent of what has still to be done. This should be our priority. Let us not wait for a Greek type of catastrophe to act for then it would be very painful.
The sun is still shining but we cannot afford to stop and bask in its warmth.

Stefano Mallia is a Nationalist MEP candidate