In 1979 at the age of 18 I travelled with a friend with my own car, starting from Syracuse and driving all the way to Munich.

We Maltese then had a really bad reputation in free Europe. We found it very hard to convince people we met that we were European and not part of Gaddafi’s Libya. The Italians kept talking to us about Mintoff and the country’s relationship with Libya, and this was at the height of Gaddafi’s financing of terrorism in Europe.

Showing our green passports to show the proximity of Malta’s distance to Sicily still could not convince them that Malta was not Gaddafi territory. But somehow we managed to earn some respect mainly due to the fact that we both spoke fluent Italian. But worse was still to come.

Crossing the border between Austria and West Germany was the biginning of a nightmare. When we reached the West German imigration Police, we got pulled to the side, asked to remove all our luggage from the car, and were interrogated like potential terrorists. Throughout, we could hear their conversation in German peppered with the words Libya, Gaddafi and Mintoff. It was one of the most degrading situations I met with during my overland travels between 1979 to 1987.

The Sicilians have seriously overfished their fishing grounds and would dearly love to be able work over Malta’s , how come our fishermen do not infringe ( get caught ) our neighbours fishing territory . Some years ago the Spanish and French were unpolitly pushed further out from their favorite haunts off the coast of Canada in an attempt to safeguard fish stocks , so yes fish wars are ugly . All that really needs to be considered is what did we gain and what do we stand to lose .

You argument does hold water…However where do we draw a line her?

In the past years Sicilian trawlers have been caught fishing in our local waters, and lawfully charged on their gross infringement.

It is worth to mention your last sentence above, regarding the incident with an Israeli delegate. This really is food for thought. What do you think about this incident?

I mean this person should have known better, not to leave a luggage, what, unattended luggage by an Israeli ( Of all nationalities) delegate? Too good to be true…

You seem to be adapting to a ‘two weights, one measure reasoning’ here. There is a maritime/fishing law after all…

What worries me is that this Sicilian fisherman was adamant that he was fishing in Italian waters. His GPS positioning (when allegedly caught) together with recorded info, should verify this. On the other hand, did he have a GPS to verify such?

As Charon simply stated, it is not a matter of the value in weight caught, but rather of, infringing on someone elses’ territory.

[Daphne – Fishing rights are not a matter of national law, but are negotiated through agreement with other states. It’s the penalties which are a matter of national law. That we have fishing rights is in itself an acknowledgement that we also have relationships with other states. It is as simple as this: you do not prejudice a bilateral relationship for a few kilos of prawns. Where relationships between countries are involved, diplomacy and the law allow for a great deal of leeway. It is on this basis, one assumes, that an Israeli delegate was allowed to board his flight and leave Malta despite being found with weapons in his suitcase.]

Of course, Joe Bloggs does not see that. People do not have foresight-they just want to be seen as big men. If Malta were the size of Sicily we would invade a new country every week. What a misplaced sense of superiority.

Adesso che è tutto finito, si può parlare di un vero e proprio incidente diplomatico e istituzionale fra l’Italia e Malta. I senatori siciliani Venerina Padua e Beppe Lumia hanno già presentato un’interrogazione parlamentare allo scopo di rivedere il trattato internazionale che regolamenta il diritto di navigazione fra i due paesi distanti appena 44 miglia.

This is my non-literal translation:

Now that it is over, we will take this to the European Court.

At the end of the day, you can call this a full-blown diplomatic and institutional incident between Malta and Italy. Sicilian senators Venerina Padua and Beppe Lumia have already tabled a parliamentary question in this regard with the aim of revising the international treaty that determines passage rights between these two countries which are only 44 miles apart.

Are we being succumbed to shortsightedness? Do we realize the repercussions on Malta, on the economy, tourism and society if we continue to use our barbarian tactics – to obtain what exactly?

Would the actions on two Sicilian fishermen lead for the Comune di Ragusa to revoke the permit allowing for the inter connector between Malta and the rest of the EU.

No, we cannot survive on our own. No, the EU does not really need Malta – its the other way round, evidently.

I am sure that the Court would not have meted out its sentence if it were not convinced that the fishermen were actually trespassing on Maltese fishing rights. Had the fishermen been Maltese and caught trespassing on Sicilian fishing rights I would have been the first to applaud any action taken by the Sicilian Court against the persons concerned. What I do find strange is the rather hefty sum the persons concerned were made to cough up. It does not in any way reflect the gravity of the crime.

[Daphne – The point being made here is that the matter should NOT have reached the courts.]