This is Malta’s time to make a paradigm shift in European politics at national level. The Maltese presidency of the Council of the European Union, commencing on January 1, is our opportunity to let go of the ‘new member State’ mindset once and for all. At the same time, while acknowledging the fact that Malta is the smallest member State in the EU, we must show that, when it comes to leading and finding solutions among 28 different national positions, size does not matter.
Since our accession 12 years ago, we made a good job out of benefitting in the best way possible from the ample advantages membership brings. This is reflected in the figures from the latest Eurobarometer survey, in which 84 per cent of us view membership as beneficial.
Now, it is no longer about us. It is no longer an issue of how many funds we are going to absorb out of the different programmes on offer. It is far from merely pushing forward our national stand on issues that directly impact us.
It is our time to take the European project forward – finding the common denominator among the 28 in the Council and then with the European Parliament, to improve people’s lives.
No longer being on the receiving end, it is our turn to contribute.
It is our time to take the European project forward
The Maltese presidency comes at a crucial time for Europe. A series of crises over the past few years and, in particular, during the past few months, led to the prevailing uncertainty. Our responsibility to contribute to and find solutions could not have come at a more vital time. What makes it easier, from a certain point of view, is that our presidency’s priorities not only profoundly coincide with those of the main European institutions and member states but, to a larger extent, address citizens’ concerns and ambitions for the future while inscribing our national imprint on them.
In our preparations for the presidency we have already evidently shown that we want this national change in mindset. We have oriented our work to a more apparent pro-European way of doing things. The exhaustive interactions at an early stage with other member states and cross-party members in the European Parliament is testament to this. Not only at a technical level here in Brussels, where meetings with all member states’ representatives happen daily in all sectors, but also at a political level where ministers seize the opportunity to meet their counterparts bilaterally on the fringes of Council of Ministers’ meetings they attend. As I write, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has just ended a tour des capitales, meeting European leaders representing the different schools of thought within the EU.
Academics like Jeffrey Lewis state that newcomers historically tend to use the rotating presidency as a chance to prove their European credentials. I believe our inaugural presidency will be our break from being newcomers and a definite break from the smallest member State syndrome. If anything, forthwith, our small size should be advantageous in positioning ourselves as the honest broker that finds common European solutions out of all the different national and institutional positions on the table, something which I have had the honour of seeing our Prime Minister do a number of times during European Council meetings.
At the Permanent Representation to the EU, over the past two years of intense preparations, we have learned the logic of appropriateness needed, such as used by the Prime Minister. As scholar Sabina Kajnc explains in her writings, small states could become the more credible ones in reaching compromises among the member states in the Council of the European Union, altering normative behaviour with efficacy.
The young, vibrant and dynamic technical and political team for our Brussels-based presidency is up to the challenge. As a ‘newcomer’, we do not have the institutional memory that others might have, rather it is our ambition, our planning and our energy that will see Malta truly come of age in the EU.
Cyrus Engerer is the Prime Minister’s envoy to the EU.