Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/994982
24 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 JUNE 2018 OPINION OH, and Pantalleria, too. And maybe even Linosa, Lampione, Favignana, Stromboli and the Aeolian Islands while we're at it. Because all of a sudden, Professor Godfrey Baldacchi- no's recent suggestion – i.e., to 'solve' Malta's territorial limitations, by simply 'buying' islands from neighbouring Italy – doesn't sound like quite the wacky idea we all took it for at the time.... does it now? For one thing, Italy has only just declared that it already owns far more islands than it can possibly be expected to cope with. Last week, the Italian government even took the extraordinary measure of closing down one of them altogether – Lampedusa – on the grounds that it is no longer a 'safe port of call'. Yet last I looked, the responsibility to keep one's own territorial possession 'safe' – or at least, 'safe' enough to be able to ful- fil the most basic international life-saving obligations known to mankind – fell to the gov- ernment of the country which owns it. So, if Lampedusa is no longer 'safe', it is only because the Italian government has manifestly failed to live up to its own civic responsibilities as a sovereign state. And who can possibly blame it? Even tiny little Malta oc- casionally struggles to impose 'full functionality' on all its territorial possessions – though they add up to barely 320km2. Italy, on the other hand, comprises a mainland stretching all the way into Austria and Switzerland... and on top of Lampedusa and all the aforementioned islands, there's also Sardinia, Capri, Elba, Vulcano, Ischia, Pro- cida, the Cheradis, Elba, the Maddalena archipelago... why, the Venetian lagoon alone comprises more individual islands than Malta has in- habitants. And, please note: I haven't even got to Sicily yet... the single largest island in the entire Mediterranean. How they even keep track of all those island territories – if they even do – I have no idea. But there is another, more pressing reason for Italy to seriously consider ceding sovereignty over, at least a few of them, to Malta. Aside from the fact that... well, we could all use the extra leg-room... Italy has recently made very similar demands on us as a nation. And for almost exactly the same reason, too: Italy's infrastructure minister Danilo Toninelli has only just argued that Malta receives "a lot" of public funds to administer its oversized Search and Rescue zone... but this was "patrolled by Italian frigates". "If the Maltese are not able to [patrol it], they should change the SAR region and we will take it ourselves, includ- ing the public funds that come with it," he added. Erm... sorry to ask, but is there any particular reason why that argument shouldn't apply equally well to Lampedusa? After all, as far as I know Malta never 'closed' its SAR zone, no matter what difficulties we may have occasionally had in ad- ministering it. In other words: our control of the disputed area – limited though it may be – was never lost quite so fully as Italy's over Lampedusa; though strangely, nobody is talking about stripping Italy of its rights over that particular territory (as Italy proposes for Malta). All the same, however... to be fair, Toninelli does have a small point. Fact of the matter is that we can't, in truth, be expected to cope with such an enormous Search and Rescue region: not when countries like Italy – slap bang in the middle of it – consistently refuse to co-operate with our Armed Forces, SAR command centre, government, etc... thus automatically turning any rescue attempt into an instant political stand-off. But on the other side of the equation... Italy can't cope with the sheer abundance of its Mediterranean islands either. Meanwhile, they want to take over our responsi- bilities for Search and Rescue throughout the central Medi- terranean (and all the money that goes with it... no prizes for guessing which Toninelli and his mates actually have in mind)... and we, on our part, want more territory to claim as our own; but lack the mili- tary power to go out and get it the old-fashioned way. Hmm. Now: I'm the first to admit I've never been much of a businessman myself... but if you ask me – and perhaps you shouldn't – that is a classic case of: 'It's a deal... a steal... the sale of the frigging century!' Italy's initial bar- gaining chip is already there, visible on the table. They want us to relinquish our SAR zone, so they can take it over themselves. All that remains is for us to make a reasonable counter-offer. What would Italy be expected to relinquish in return? What would Malta get, for ceding so much of its territorial rights as a nation? I say... well, I already said it in the headline. By all means, let Italy take over our SAR Zone, and all the hassle (and money) that goes with it. After all, if they later find that it's just as difficult to cope with as Lampedusa, they can always refuse to live up to their civic responsibilities in that case as well. Heck, at a stretch, they can even flog it off to yet another unsuspect- ing country – after all, some- thing that has been sold once, Raphael Vassallo Tell you what: give us Lampedusa, 20mm All round Bleed DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS Charles Gauci Charles Gauci P R E-P U B LI CAT I O N O FFER MediaToday is pleased to o er a pre-publication o er of €15.00 (original price is €20) including packaging and postage of the full-colour hardback edition of Dragon ies and Damsel ies of the Maltese Islands by Charles Gauci published by Birdlife Malta. The pre-publication o er is valid until 27 June 2018 and is only available to residents of Malta and Gozo. Please send a cheque addressed to MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann together with your name, address and contact number