A stronger Malta in a stronger Europe

There is a Malta tale to the decision of the European Council to agree to the Irish demand to keep, on ratifying the Lisbon Treaty, a commissioner for each member state; in my opinion, the right decision making for a stronger Malta in a stronger Europe.

The texts of the Draft Constitutional Treaty adopted by the seminal European Convention on the Future of Europe (2003) to the now defunct Constitutional Treaty (2004) and the still unborn Lisbon Treaty (2007) all suggest a reduction of the Commission from that existing today of one commissioner per country, the reduction to be effected on the basis of a system of equal rotation. The Convention Draft provided for a Commission which, from November 1, 2009, would have been made up of 15 voting commissioners with the other countries having non-voting commissioners. The Constitutional Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty, while delaying the change to 2014, provide for the Commission number to correspond to two-thirds of its member states "unless the European Council, acting unanimously, decides to alter this number".

Meeting the Irish demand of assuring a commissioner for each member state would have been far more difficult to achieve had Malta not made a last-minute proposal in a pre-European Council meeting of a "caucus" Group of Like-Minded States prior to the adoption of the final text of the Treaty on a Constitution for Europe, later carried into the Treaty of Lisbon. Our proposal was for the Treaty itself to provide for the possibility that member states, acting unanimously, decide not to go to the reduced Commission in 2014 but to carry on with the current system of one commissioner per member state - exactly what happened last December 15.

This flexibility, built into the legal framework of the Treaty itself, allowed leaders to decide politically to meet the Irish request without having to go for a Treaty amendment and therefore without having to undergo another new ratification process for all member states! Without that "unless" in the text of the Lisbon Treaty, the Irish demand would have been practically impossible to meet: this internal mechanism provided states with a legal capacity and a legal basis "to change their mind" albeit unanimously. In the European Convention on the Future of Europe (where I was appointed in representation of the Maltese national Parliament) and elsewhere, I had always argued for a Commission in which all member states would be able to nominate a commissioner, deeming such a Commission more powerful and authoritative because it had around the table a sum of all the different experiences from each of its component societies. In terms of institutional balance within the Union, a Commission with the moral authority and credibility of a Europe-wide representation is even more important in the context of a system where, for the first time, a six-monthly Presidency is replaced by a "permanent" Presidency of the member-state Council.

Finding no solace in the text as it then existed, and knowing that in the EU negotiations go on till the very last minute, as the then Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I drafted a paragraph for inclusion in the Constitutional Treaty which stated that member states, acting unanimously, could decide not to reduce the numbers of commissioners in 2014 and carry on with the existing system of one country, one commissioner. Having obtained the endorsement of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs John Dalli and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, the issue was raised in the caucus group. Later it was proposed in the Council by the then ad hoc Chair of the Group and was adopted.

It seemed innocuous enough, I suppose... after all unanimity was required for the reduction not to take place. In the end, however, within the context of the possibility of losing the Lisbon Treaty, it gave the leaders a flexible legal space within which to take their political decision to support the Irish request, without having to amend the Treaty and re-sign and re-ratify it.

Ireland's gain is our gain, of course. Within the context of European bureaucracy and mechanisms a small country nominating a commissioner is a significant gain. Take note that five years after membership, the Commission bureaucracy has still not deemed fit to find a competent Maltese citizen to occupy a directorship position within its ranks! Inclusiveness strengthens the Commission and the Union. The European Council's decision is an expression of inclusiveness that makes for a stronger Malta in a stronger Europe.

Dr Frendo is a former Foreign Minister of Malta.