“Here is advance news of the next move of the rising European monolith, the European Union. You will soon read of this in your newspapers. In this article we break the news of the EU_s move southward” (Trumpet, May 2000).
That news revolved around the European Union_s vision for Malta as reflected in a statement made by EU Enlargement Commissioner Gunter Verheugen in March 2000 on a visit to Malta. He said if Malta joined the EU “it would become a gateway. … For Europe, Malta has been described as a springboard to the whole Mediterranean region, and especially to the African and Middle Eastern shores.”
In reporting this event, this magazine broke the story to the world of the German intention to once again seek to penetrate, and eventually dominate, North Africa and, ultimately, the whole African continent!
Small wonder that 31/2 years later, a news story appeared on www.german‑foreign‑policy.com highlighting German intentions to establish a military presence in North Africa. Referring to information obtained from German news sources, the article stated, “Germany is strengthening its defense cooperation with Tunisia and Morocco. As the German Defense Minister [Rudolf Scharping] asserted after visits to Tunis and Rabat, Germany was turning ‘not only to the East’ but also conducting a dialogue with the North African states—independently of the ‘Opposite Coast’ (i.e. France, Spain, Italy). …
“As the Defense Ministry announces, Berlin wants to expand the longstanding activities of German ‘military advisers’ in Tunisia and Morocco by means of closer military cooperation with Tunis” (Nov. 17).
What is significant about Germany’s move to expand its influence to African shores? “The present desire of Berlin for a strengthened cooperation in these areas is in order to provide an armed (and completely independent of the U.S.) component of German foreign policy in North Africa” (ibid.).
What we are seeing in this latest foreign‑policy initiative of the German government is simply a progressive fulfillment of that goal stated by Commissioner Verheugen in mid‑2000: “Malta will be at the heart of north‑south relations. The goal is a stable and prosperous Mediterranean basin, with its southern and eastern flanks filling their true potential.”
In May 2004, Malta will likely accede to EU membership along with nine other prospective EU member nations. The German dominated EU will then have its gateway to North Africa firmly in its grasp. Watch for the famous old Valetta harbor to then become haven to German warships patrolling the Mediterranean and the shores of the North African coast as Germany begins to secure the continental prize to its south.