Spain is expected to scupper Malta's bid to host the secretariat of the Mediterranean Union in spite of its late entry into the contest.
A decision is expected to be taken tomorrow during a Mediterranean Union meeting at foreign minister level to be held in Marseilles, France.
Sources told The Sunday Times that Malta has not managed to gather the necessary support for its bid and the overriding favourite is Spain, which has mounted a strong diplomatic campaign in recent weeks.
This involved the intervention of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero. During the past week he met European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and hosted the EU Commissioner for external relations, Benita Ferrero Waldner, for talks in Madrid.
There were originally three candidates for the post. However, two days ago Tunisia withdrew its candidacy, leaving Spain and Malta to vie for the seat.
Since its chances of success are limited, Malta is also likely to withdraw its candidacy during tomorrow's meeting, the sources said.
"The French Presidency does not want to hold a vote as this will create winners and losers. So it is putting pressure on Malta to withdraw its bid," the sources said.
"Unfortunately, despite Malta being ideally placed to hold this secretariat, it has not managed to gather support from other members of the Union, including EU member states. The only open support given to Malta came from Italy and Cyprus, not considered as heavyweights in EU circles. Malta was almost invisible during the campaign and a country can't gather support in this manner," the sources said.
Diplomatic observers who spoke to The Sunday Times criticised the country's approach.
"Once again our foreign office has failed to mount a coordinated campaign across the EU and the north African countries. Even the material we distributed to other diplomatic missions was far inferior to the Spanish (campaign)," one diplomat said.
"We cannot expect things to come our way without any effort. Malta was totally ignored even by the international press when commenting on hosting this secretariat. Spain and Tunisia were the only two candidates mentioned despite Malta's early entry into the race. We are definitely doing something wrong," the observers said.
Officially, the government is not commenting on the issue though a senior Maltese diplomat admitted that Malta's efforts overseas have been limited and that the island will not get the secretariat.
"It's a pity that the seat seems to be going to a provincial town (Barcelona) instead of coming to Malta," he said.
Steered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Mediterranean Union, officially launched last July, includes all the countries that were involved in the Euromed Barcelona Process as well as other Mediterranean states such as Croatia and Montenegro.
Since joining the EU in 2004, this is the third time that Malta has failed to succeed in building a consensus around its candidacy to hold a secretariat.
Malta had also wanted to host the EU's border control agency, Frontex - which went to Poland and the Anna Lindth Foundation - which was given to Egypt.