In response to the prime minister’s accusation that the Nationalist Party MEPs ‘voted against Malta’
Malta is not the Maltese government and the Maltese government is not Malta.
MEPs do not represent Malta or the Maltese government. They represent their European constituents: the Maltese people who voted for them and sent them to the European Parliament to represent THEM there.
The parliamentary group to which PN MEPs belong is not the ‘Malta Parliamentary Group’. It is the European People’s Party. Labour MEPs belong to a completely different parliamentary group: the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats.
MEPs vote with and are aligned to their parliamentary group and not their compatriots. Alliances are formed not on the basis of nationality but of political beliefs. This is the European Parliament and that is the European spirit, but the Malta L-Ewwel U Qabel Kollox brigatadon’t understand either the spirit or the concept, which is why they spent long years campaigning against EU membership and telling us to vote No.
There is another point – a major, fundamental one that is the crux of the matter. The government does not have a mandate to sell citizenship or passports, so even those who voted Labour have every right (and duty) to object. Had the Labour Party disclosed its plans before the general election and included them in its electoral programme, the situation would have been different.
It could then claim it has a popular mandate to forge ahead despite the terrible consequences that will inevitably ensue. But because it has no mandate, its actions can be viewed as illegitimate in electoral terms.
They have certainly been deceitful. This is not something that the government came up with after four years in office, but its primary action which appears to be the underpinning for everything else. It was definitely planned out, arranged and ‘costed’ into the concrete roadmap well ahead of February 2013 and should therefore not have been hidden from the electorate.
If I had voted Labour I would be incensed at having something of this magnitude hidden from me until my vote had been secured. I’d feel cheated, conned, stupid for being treated like a chump, and betrayed.
But I’ll leave the last word to Edward Abbey, the 20th-century American writer and advocate of environmental issues:
“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”
The country and the government are not the same thing.
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Edward Abbey, the 20th-century American writer and advocate of environmental issues:
“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”
The country and the government are not the same thing.
Ma tistax tpoġġiha aħjar. Kemm se ndumu naħsbuha?
Dan il-gvern qarraq bina lkoll. Għamel kollox minn wara daharna u issa jridna nċappċpulu.
Irridu nipprotestaw għal dan l-aġir. Ma nistgħux nibqgħu aktar ċassi.
Irridu referendum. Ejjew nibdew niġbru l-firem illum qabel għada, qabel ma ssir il-froġa.
Ma rridx inkun pedantiku, imma l-froga digà saret ghax il-ligi ghaddiet, bis-sigill u l-firma tal-President tar-Repubblika George Abela, li fuqu minhiex se nghaddi kummenti biex nevita xi l-inkarcerazzjoni. Jigifieri, for all we know, dawk l-1800 main applicant jafu digà ghandhom passaport Malti.
Exactly. All this fuss, flap and bother is about selling bonus passports. There are no publicly accessible information systems that can tell us whether any passports have been issued already.
“Dan il-gvern qarraq bina lkoll.” Some of us would beg to differ.
L’etat c’est moi and all that. How tiresome.
Muscat is simply imitating his idol Mintoff. It’s obvious.
They are targeting individuals. It’s their lifeline. That’s what they did to Gonzi and that’s what they do to you, Dr Borg Cardona or any one who dares have views opposing theirs.
Do not forget that Gonzi was targeted from the inside too.
We eventually got to know some perpetrators of that infamous deed but toxic people still lurk in the shadows building upon their strength, waiting to pounce at the appropriate moment and serve Simon Busuttil the same hand.
Ambition, arrogance, lack of tolerance and in some cases sheer stupidity led to the detachment of the previous PN leadership from the people. Machinations from within did the rest and the future was sealed. The lemmings migrated in huge numbers.
This said, let us not flatter the MLP too much for having won an election, but rather chastise ourselves for having allowed them the possibility to do so. Notwithstanding everything, the PN is without any doubt the better party to govern so long as the new leadership does not allow this to go to their heads.
Excellent observations.
Malta is like those women who are forced into prostitution by their pimps. The MEPs who spoke against this citizenship scheme are trying to save Malta from its pimp.
It is the pimp who should be vilified not those MEPs.
In fact Malta is not the only “woman” being forced into prostitution here but each of the 27 member states are. So even if the Maltese government had a mandate from the electorate, which it does not, it wouldn’t change the fact that it would be pimping the rest of the members of this Club against their own will.
The bottom line is that the Maltese Government will be selling European citizenship. Maltese citizenship alone would not be as attractive to the market.
In other words, “the most feminist government” of the “best country in Europe” turned out to be the biggest brothel of Europe.
It is just like servicing the Royal Navy but at top shelf prices.
Yes, you could say that. And against their will too.
Prosit.Prosit. Prosit.
Q:If the PM was so convinced it was such a good scheme, why didn’t he include the proposal in the MLP manifesto?
A: Because he wouldn’t have won the election.
Therefore, Mr. Prime Minister the only way out for you is to:
1. heed the EU and the Maltese and think the whole thing over;
2. call an election;
3. resign.
The choice is yours.
I suggest he should get no choice. He should do all three of them.
Article 4 (3) of the EU Treaty states:
Pursuant to the principle of sincere cooperation, the Union and the Member States shall, in full mutual respect, assist each other in carrying out tasks which flow from the Treaties. The Member States shall take any appropriate measure, general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaties or resulting from the acts of the institutions of the Union.
(so far so good – not directly applicable to the IIP….but then comes the more difficult nut to crack)….
…The Member States shall facilitate the achievement of the Union’s tasks and REFRAIN FROM ANY MEASURE WHICH COULD JEOPARDISE THE ATTAINMENT OF THE UNION’S OBJECTIVES.
The Maltese government’s attitude is a smack in the face of genuine cooperation, based on a model of unhealthy competition. I think there is sufficient basis for them to stop us.
[Daphne – Competition, unhealthy or otherwise, has nothing to do with it. This is outright abuse of a system for our own ends and profit, which relies on the assumption that others will not do the same. Imagine if all the other 27 EU member states were to begin selling passports.]
I agree 100%. Malta’s government is the EU’s most infamous mercenary at this moment.
It’s easy to be in agreement with each of your arguments and logical points precisely because each one is the result of sound judgement. There are no loose ends.
The argument ties up. The angles explored are hardly only the usual ones. It comes across to me as both healthy and interesting thinking, where the learning curve is never stagnant. Quite the opposite.
Hearing anything from Labour, I am left with a resounding sense of deceit as to their intentions and actions. Every single time. One is also left with a sense of responsibility to fellow Maltese to fish out the deceit and expose it. And once it’s out it stinks. They seem unable to do otherwise.
It appears that the EU has now got full wind of this sense too.
Once again, Daphne: Hear, Hear.
I think raising hell about the issue is of great significance. In this respect, Daphne, you are doing a world of good by opining on and by investigating the issue exhaustively. The rest of the papers are only presenting scant reportages on the subject. Opinions are not given; misinformation is rampant.
At least, your opinions against the position of the government and our comments on them will show the rest of the world that Malta is divided on the subject and with good cause.
Prima facia Muscat’s message may be taken as simple defiance and hard headedness.
Unfortunately the ‘Malta first and foremost brigade’ (as you call them) stop here and praise the MLP for looking after Malta’s interest first. Oddly, I couldn’t agree more with one Labourite commenter on the Times who said that Maltese are only happy when their pockets are full of money.
However, I favour a different and more sinister interpretation of Muscat’s message. Yesterday’s statement does not show a prime minister taking a stand. To me it is a serious warning that non-European countries (such as China) and/or a crowd of shady bankrollers are truly calling the shots.
My reading is that it is a statement by someone who is being held tightly by the family jewels.
This episode goes beyond the Golden Years of Mintoff’s despotic reign. It sets a scary precedent of things yet to come.
No one in his right frame of mind would defy one of the highest democratic institutions of the world however flawed that institution may be. Those behind Muscat are asking for their pound of flesh.
Muscat’s advisor Shiv Nair – now rendered invisible (he seems to have attained Muscat’s ideal state before Muscat himself got the opposite of “there”) – has a London lair in 135, Holland Park Avenue where misinformation is the rule, never the exception.
People with direct links to this lair – here include Malta’s “nobly blessed,” and including those linked to the administration of Times of Malta – would propound, even as “far back” as 2008, that the EU was not destined to last.
“Why not give them a passport and let them get/go on their way…” Edward de Bono.
“Why not” politics.
The politics of possibility, poetry, provocation.
Brilliant piece.
What I don’t get in Labour’s logic is the fact that both PL and PN had their opportunity to lobby, but since the MEPs did not vote the way they wanted, the PN – in their view – become traitors.
‘New’ PL has shown its true colours. Not accepting different politics views, and the constant inquisitions against its opponents shows a party that still hasn’t embraced democracy.
The prime minister said that applications are being received already. Konrad Mizzi’s wife must be working overtime.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101345275
As Scicluna said, “if I was an MEP here, and I hear that Malta was selling passports for two…er…thousand, I would say for goodness sake I wouldn’t expect that from Malta. And you would have been right.”
So according to Scicluna, 560 MEPs including Casa and Metsola are right. It’s his four MEPs and a couple of other extremists who are wrong.
http://markanthonysammut.blogspot.com/2014/01/remember-remember-scicluna-in-december.html
The Nationalist MEPs voted against a sleazy, shameful scheme that has dragged the good name of Malta into the gutter. They have therefore voted FOR Malta, unlike the shameless, mercenary passport traders.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20131215/local/Austria-comparisons-to-citizenship-deal-odious-.498976#.UtlZL3ikrCQ
We’re all talking about what the Labour Party said because Metsola and Casa voted for the EU resolution. Imagine what they would have said had those two voted against it.
It would be wiser for PN to stay away rather than seek a consensus on citizenship scheme . Answer a fool according to his folly is best way .