Awkward silences are invariably an interviewer’s worst enemy. But happily, silence of any kind tends to be a rarity when interviewing Dr Josie Muscat: a man with an axe to grind against the media in general, and against MaltaToday in particular.
“Let me tell you up front that I don’t like being misquoted,” he says severely soon after we meet in the St James Hospital lobby in Zabbar. I try to assure him that I have no intention of misquoting him, but he cuts me short. “Your paper has already done that. My words were twisted and taken out of context. All the media has treated us very unfairly. It hurts, you know…”
Josie is referring to our front page story some weeks ago, which quoted him as saying that AN would not exclude withdrawing from the EU in order to secure a better deal for hunters.
“That’s not correct,” he insists. “What I actually said was that I would not exclude anything…”
OK, clearly we have got off on the wrong foot. Let’s take a step back: what, exactly, is AN’s position on the Malta, hunting and the EU?
Mollified, Dr Muscat offers me a coffee before launching into a colourful description of EU negotiations five years ago: in particular, the notorious “special exception” which was supposed to allow limited hunting in spring.
“When Malta negotiated the terms of EU accession, there were two main parties involved: the PN and MLP. Because the Nationalists had promised a referendum, they needed the hunters’ vote at all costs. So they claimed that they had reached an agreement with the EU on hunting. The MLP, on other hand, did not take part in negotiations at all. Back then it was all gloom and doom. They wanted ‘partnership’ instead, so they pooh-poohed the negotiated package, and all the agreements with the EU…”
Now, Josie continues, we know that the PN had deceived the hunters all along; in reality, there was never any special agreement on hunting. “So what is the situation today? Simple: the MLP lost both the referendum and the election in 2003, and now, they have just accepted everything the PN negotiated – the same package they had dismissed five years ago – without any reservation whatsoever!”
All this certainly seems true, but at the same time it tells us little about AN’s actual policy on the issue. Now that Malta is in court with the European Commission, does Josie think he can turn back the clock to pre-negotiation days?
“What we are saying is this: Malta is small. Unfortunately you can’t change that: it’s a country, and it can’t be stretched like a stick of chewing gum. In fact we are the smallest country in the EU, with the largest population (proportionately, at least). We must also understand that this country does not belong to any one group of people. It belongs to us all; we all have to live in it one way or another. So we have to meet around a table and agree on a system how best to live with each other on this tiny island. If I want to go out and enjoy the countryside, should I not have the right? And if I am a hunter, so long as I obey the law, should I not also have the right to practise my hobby, too?”
At this point (with some difficulty) I manage to sneak in a question. Josie has alluded to the importance of law and order: a hallmark of his party’s electoral platform. Considering that spring hunting is now illegal according to the EU’s Birds Directive, isn’t AN sending out the message that the law need not be obeyed at all?
Josie shakes his head firmly. “No, and it’s important that we stress this. Nobody is above the law. What we want to do is renegotiate the treaty ‘a modo nostro’… in a way that is acceptable to both the hunters and the EU.”
But on a practical level, how can AN guarantee that it will even manage to reopen negotiations… still less manage to secure the exact deal they have in mind?
“When you go into negotiations, you never know how it will turn out until the very end. And besides, God forbid we were in a position where we have to simply accept everything that is thrown at us because of the treaty we signed in 2003. Otherwise, we would really have lost our sovereignty…”
But as we discuss the hunting issue in greater detail, it quickly becomes clear that the finer points of ornithology are not among Dr Muscat’s strong points. Soon, I find myself being informed that birds do not really migrate over Malta at all; they only come here when they “get lost”.
“Let’s be honest here: Malta is not a normal migratory route for birds. Any bird that passes over Malta must be a crazy bird that lost its way. Still, I am not saying that a protected bird should be shot at, just because it got lost and ended up over Malta by mistake. But everybody knows that Malta is not really a migratory route...”
Hunters and birders are unlikely to agree, but let’s leave them to battle it out on their own. For the moment I am more intrigued by an apparent contradiction in AN’s electoral platform. Namely, that while Josie’s party constantly stresses law and order, some aspects of its manifesto seem to be illegal.
For instance, article 10.6, which states that “…illegal immigrants will be flown to Brussels so that the EU, that is so free with its criticism, can deal with them…”
Josie looks at me quizzically. “What’s so illegal about that?” he asks.
Well, if they are illegal upon entry to Malta because they came here without documents… wouldn’t they also be illegal upon entry to Brussels for the same reason? And besides, Malta is signatory to the Dublin Convention: according to which, any immigrant flown by Josie to Brussels, would simply be deported back to Malta on the next available flight.
“Precisely,” Josie replies triumphantly, as though I had just proved his entire thesis right. “Isn’t this the same Brussels that criticises us for treating these people like animals? So we’ve heard Brussels talk the talk; now let’s see if Brussels can walk the walk…”
Admittedly this is all very fine-sounding populist talk, but even if Josie has a point about the EU’s ambivalence on immigration, it remains a fact that AN’s proposal is hardly likely to work in practice.
But Dr Muscat has already sprinted beyond the original question. “When we refer to ‘illegal immigrants’, we are not only referring to boat people who throw their passports overboard. Those who come from former communist countries in Eastern Europe, and who overstay their Visa conditions, those are illegal too. Do you know how many there are in Malta?”
I shake my head.
“Me neither. And this is the problem we are talking about. Illegal immigrants can stay here and wander around as much as they like. What is the message we are sending? What does it mean to those immigrants who have entered the country legally and pay their taxes? Is it fair on them?”
So what is Josie’s solution in a nutshell?
“Simple. The only solution is to stop illegal immigration, both at sea and on land.”
This is the closest we come to an awkward silence. Stop illegal immigration? What, just like that?
Josie suddenly gives me a pious look. “We will do what our ancestors did in the case of St Paul. On that occasion, the Maltese showed hospitality; they took care of him, they gave him food, drink and shelter. And when he left after three months, he left something behind him. Something big.”
But coming back to the 21st century for a moment: how does AN intend to get around the provisions of the Dublin Convention, to which Malta is a signatory state?
“The Dublin Convention was not drawn up with illegal immigration in mind,” he replies. “It was intended for people in distress at sea. In the case of boat people, this distress is self-inflicted. After all, they knew the risks before trying to come here. Now, I am not saying that we should not rescue people in distress at sea. As in the case of St Paul, we should take them in… but only with a predetermined agreement with our partners in the EU, so that they do not stay here longer than necessary.”
At this point Josie reminds me that he was the first to raise the concept of “burden sharing”, at the launch of AN at the Phoenicia last year.
“The situation cannot go on as it is. We have to negotiate an agreement with all EU member states. After all, immigration is not our responsibility. If necessary we will hold a referendum to pull out of Dublin Convention…”
This latter proposal reminds me of Justice Minister Tonio Borg’s erstwhile threat to “suspend our international obligations”… a threat he quickly had to withdraw. Wouldn’t AN face the same difficulties? And isn’t withdrawing from Dublin also a precursor to pulling out of the EU?
“You are trying to push me into saying ‘yes’, aren’t you? But what I will tell you is this: when you negotiate, you never reveal all the cards in your hand. What we want to do is renegotiate the terms of our entry in a way that is acceptable to us and to the EU as well. We only want what is in our people’s interest…”
This, Josie stresses, forms the bulk of the difference between his own party and the two larger ones. “Look at the ratification of the EU Treaty,” he says. “In the UK, parliament discussed it for a whole month before ratifying it. In Malta, we discussed it for just five hours. Is this serious? Come on…”
To Josie, Malta’s sudden subservience to Brussels signifies only one thing: that we have ceded our sovereignty to the EU. “We used to have a bit of bargaining power, even if we were a little speck in the middle of the Mediterranean,” he says resignedly. “Now we have surrendered everything…”
So is AN against the treaty? Josie shakes his head. “No. What we want is a referendum. Isn’t the people sovereign? Then let the people decide…”
According to Josie, had Malta kept its original 1964 Independence Constitution, the government would have been obliged to go to the people before ratifying the treaty. “But today, the Constitution of Malta is just a piece of paper that everybody ignores. This is why we want to restore power to the people. We feel that over time, the people’s autonomy has faded to nothing…”
No doubt echoing a widely shared concern, Josie expresses intense scepticism regarding the Lisbon Treaty and its ultimate goals. “The question is, what sort of Europe do we want? I was in favour of EU membership five years ago, and even said so on TV… although everyone seems to have forgotten that now. But I was not in favour of membership at all costs. There can be no doubt about it: this treaty will lead to a federal EU.”
And I take it AN opposes federalism…
“Absolutely. Economically, a federal union would make sense. But politically it can never work. Think of all the diverse cultures and nations that make up Europe. How can you expect them to unite under common laws? Federalism will only break the national sentiment. How can it work?”
Coming back to Malta, now in election mode, I turn to AN’s campaign. Coincidentally I had driven past an AN billboard on my way to Zabbar. The message? “Fed up? Had enough? Then vote AN!”
Doesn’t that project the image that AN is a last resort for the disillusioned voter? “Let me put it this way… I didn’t really need to go out for politics. I am 64 years old, I have my own business… But I did it because this country isn’t functioning. And it wasn’t easy to persuade people to join me, either. I approached many people whom I thought would have a valid contribution to make. I even approached someone else – no names mentioned – and offered him to be leader of the party instead of myself. But he declined. Politics has become a dirty word…”
Josie places the blame for this state of affairs squarely on the two larger parties, which he accuses of annexing the country and dividing the spoils between them.
“Look at their billboards. One accuses the other of being corrupt, and the other of now having any ideas. What kind of a choice is that? Hardly surprising that people are fed up…”
But no sooner does someone step forward to challenge the system, than spokes are put into the wheels.
“Let me tell you how serious this country is. We have to pay to make our voices heard. PBS, the national broadcaster, never invited us on any of their programmes. And obviously both Net and One TV ignored us completely. So we had to pay to go on Smash TV… and then, by law, we have to invite representatives of the other parties for the sake of balance. So from the programme we have paid for ourselves, we only have one third of the airtime to make our own point. Is this serious? Come on! You can’t even call this a Mickey Mouse country, because Mickey Mouse will get offended…”