Malta's credibility in Europe and beyond

When I was appointed to Lawrence Gonzi's Cabinet, just over three and a half years ago, in July 2004, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, I knew that the challenge then, as now, was to ensure a success of Malta's membership of the European Union. In achieving this success we had to put to rest Alfred Sant's prediction that Malta would be makku (whitebait) among the whales, a focal argument of his anti-EU crusade pre-2004.

As expected, it has not been an easy ride. Nothing worth achieving is. We had to go through a stiff learning curve in a short time, ensuring that we balance out the need to show that Malta is a good team player (burying the memories of Helsinki) without at any point being passive or subservient but proactively participating and, as necessary, negotiating hard for our country's interests.

Carefully, day by day, with constancy in our contribution and approach, we have built for Malta a level of credibility in the EU and internationally that gives us a value in international relations far beyond our size. Some examples of this success of Malta's membership in the EU can illustrate this.

The first is the holding in Malta of the EU-Arab League ministerial meeting last month, bringing together 49 states, representing 800 million people, to engage on strategically important issues for our own security and stability, including inter-cultural dialogue, climate change, energy, migration and reform. This Malta initiative which, as Malta's Foreign Minister, I launched in September 2006, has shown that the country can give a pivotal contribution to European Common Foreign and Security Policy even in its first years of EU membership. The fact that we pushed through the holding of this meeting in Malta, which was "successful beyond all expectations" (in the words of Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, who co-chaired together with Slovenia and Malta), took forward a strategic objective of Malta's foreign policy to be "a trusted interlocutor" with the Arab world. Additionally, it also showcased the economic success of our country, contributing to further enhancing our international profile as an exciting place for investment.

That we had gone beyond Dr Sant's makku esteem of our country had already been shown in our strong but fair negotiations for Malta to obtain a sixth seat in the new Lisbon Treaty in relation to the next 2009 European Parliament elections, a hard-fought issue till the very end. Establishing six seats as a minimum for any member state took the argument from that relating to population to one relating to democratic effectiveness in the European Parliament and it means that the number of six seats cannot be reduced even with the entry of new member states.

Not to be taken for granted was achieving the sum of €855 million for the period of 2007-2013 from the cohesion funds. Even there, as was to be expected, we had to participate in a 12-month long financial perspectives negotiation process holding firm on our Objective 1 status (to ensure maximum funding) and on our freedom to use the funds in accordance with what we considered to be our major developmental needs at this stage of our economic development. Both were achieved as a result of tenacious, well-prepared, serious negotiations for our country as a member of the European family.

This hard-won credibility is put all at risk by such a flippant remark as that of "opening the package" of Malta's Accession Treaty with the EU. This astonishing, incredible statement by a Leader of the Opposition would be a death-knell to our credibility in the EU if it were to be pronounced by Malta's Prime Minister, to which post Dr Sant aspires on Saturday.

A fundamental factor for Malta's economic success, for the tremendous increase in our foreign direct investment, in the creation of 20,000 jobs, in meeting the Maastricht criteria and joining the eurozone, in the past four years lies in our successful membership of the EU.

We must not take this credibility for granted. For a small island state in today's world, it is a daily task to be continued. Your vote, or even the lack of it, will decide whether we can sustain this success.

Dr Frendo will contest Saturday's election on behalf of the Nationalist Party.