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Was, is and shall remain in favour of Maltese workers
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By the Campaign for National Independence CNI
TELL YOUR PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTY THAT YOU WANT MALTA TO REGAIN INDEPENDENCE AND FREEDOM
In the seven years 2007 – 2014 the Maltese and Gozitans are going to pay the European Union €420,000,000
By
Dr Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici
The
Shipyard should continue to operate in the national interest.
No EU regulation and no policy should prevail over our national interest.
That
is why after December this year we should ensure that the Shipyard will not be
closed down because that is what the Union wants.
After all, why does the Union not want the Shipyard to continue to receive aid?
The reason the Union gives to this is that the state should not give aid to a commercial enterprise.
And why does the Union not want a commercial enterprise to be given aid?
The
Union’s reason for this is that aid to a commercial enterprise will cause
damage to competitor commercial enterprises and is against free trade
competition.
Then according to the Union, aid granted to the Malta Shipyard is damaging to
competitor shipyards.
Who are the competitor shipyards of the Malta Shipyard?
In shipbuilding, all the shipyards in the world are competitors of our Shipyard.
But
in ship repair, our shipyard competitors in the European Union are those in the
Mediterranean, of Greece, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.
For the benefit of the shipyards in the European Union that build ships, and for those in the Mediterranean that repair ships, the Union six years ago bound Malta, if it wanted to become a Union member,
* to close the Marsa Shipyard and
* downsize the Bormla Shipyard, by
* reducing the number of workers to 1,400,
* limit the amount of work to two million man-hours per year only,
* use not more than 10,000 tons of steel per year, and
* to totally close Dock Number 1.
The
Union was not happy to impose these restrictions and limitations, but it also
insisted that all aid must be stopped after December 2008.
All
this shows that the Union considers the amount of work made by the Malta
Shipyard according to the Restructuring Agreement is acceptable to the Malta
Shipyard competitors in the Union.
But the granting of aid to the Malta Shipyard is not going to increase the
amount of work it makes more than that agreed upon in the agreement, and
therefore it is not going to be damaging to the Shipyard competitors in the
Union.
Once the amount of work that the Shipyard is permitted to make in a year,
according to the Restructuring Agreement imposed by the Union, is not going to
cause damage to its competitors in free trade.
But this is not a principle that the Union applies to all sectors.
It does not apply it in agriculture where the Union grants enormous amounts of subsidies.
After
all, the Union permits the state to grant huge amounts of aid to certain
industries, such as that of aircraft and tourism.
In the case of tourism, for example, the subsidies that the Government of a
country grants helps the competitor enterprises in other Union countries, apart
from this being against the principle of free trade competition.
Many European Union member countries grant great amounts of aid to their enterprises in the national interest.
We mention England, France and Italy, who all do so.
England even nationalized the commercial enterprise Northern Rock to prevent it from going bankrupt with the loss of many deposits.
The British Government did not only spend millions, but billions of pounds Sterling to do so.
France spends huge amounts to maintain the national trains.
Italy also does so.
Such
examples are to be found in other Union countries.
Why does Malta not have the right to do similarly and spend as much as is needed
in aid to keep the Shipyard open and operating in the national interest?
If
the objection is that today the Shipyard is a commercial enterprise and not a
government department, the solution is that the Government should nationalize
the Shipyard and manage it as it manages the Public Works Department.
The European Union should not object to this measure, once the Union is not spending any money to keep the Shipyard operating.
It is the Maltese people themselves who should decide how to spend their own money, not foreign Union bureaucrats.
Thursday
6 March 2008.
WE WANT INDEPENDENCE FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION
e-mail: cnimalta at yahoo.co.uk
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Free and neutral Malta shall overcome