On the day Donald Trump succeeds Barak Obama as President of the United States, the temptation was to write about my ideas on the incoming administration. However, both during the campaign as well as since the election result was announced, so much has already been written and said, I feel now is the time to watch and see how Trump will actually perform in the Oval Office and how he will be kept in check by the two other organs of the State – Congress and the Supreme Court.

The US president is no emperor ruling by absolute dictate. The US Constitution is purposely designed to have in place a system of checks and balances that will hopefully see the US and the rest of the world safely through the next four years.

What I want to write about is much more related to what is happening here right now. The Maltese presidency of the Council of the EU is already ending its third week out of its 26-week life span. What we have seen mostly so far is the more visible events put up to mark the start of the presidency – the visit by the College of Commissioners, the concerts in Valletta and Brussels and the Prime Minister’s speech in the European Parliament which came right after the assembly elected Antonio Tajani as its new president.

However, the real hard work regarding the presidency is ongoing and consists of the numerous meetings being led by Maltese diplomats and civil servants which basically thrash out issues on a technical level, allowing ministers to tackle outstanding political issues or to endorse positions that would have worked their way up to council through the working parties and the committee of permanent representatives (COREPER).

I am confident that Marlene Bonnici and Neil Kerr, our permanent and deputy permanent representative respectively, will serve as effective chairs of the two COREPER formations, thereby facilitating matters when the ministers gather round the council table. The programme of the Maltese presidency is ambitious though realistic in terms of what could possibly be achieved in six months.

Over the past weeks, months and years I have been one of those who have advised against raising expectations on the presidency which is why I was relieved to hear the Prime Minister state during the inauguration ceremony last week that Malta has no delusions of grandeur.

I particularly liked the part where Joseph Muscat said that “our first task should not be a revolutionary one, but a relatively obvious one: identifying the questions people want us to answer. If we are able to achieve this, I believe that our answers, if based on the European Union’s values of solidarity between nations and peoples, and rooted in the potential for continued growth and a distribution of wealth where it is most needed, could be the right answers”.

While fully subscribing to the need to be ‘pragmatic’ when it comes to Europe, one can never lose sight of the underlying values of the European project

While fully subscribing to the need to be ‘pragmatic’ when it comes to Europe, one can never lose sight of the underlying values that led people like Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet and Paul-Henri Spaak to promote the European project.

I was, therefore, very happy to read about the meeting between the Prime Minister and representatives of the European Christian communities during which Archbishop Charles Scicluna presented the Prime Minister with ‘Reflections of the Church in Malta’ on the EU in view of the programme and priorities of the Maltese presidency of the council.

First of all, it is a bit of a personal satisfaction to note that the links I helped establish between the Maltese Episcopal Conference and the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) are still bearing fruit. Soon after Malta reactivated its application to join the EU in 1998, then Archbishop Joseph Mercieca had asked me to become his advisor on EU affairs and to head the now defunct ‘Commission for the Church in Malta and Europe’.

One of my first priorities was to see how the Church in Malta could become more actively involved in the work carried out by the Catholic Church on a European level. I was invited to attend a COMECE meeting in Brussels and, following a meeting with the then secretary general Mgr Noel Treanor (who is now Bishop of Down and Connor and the Irish member of COMECE), we agreed that the Maltese Episcopal Conference would be invited to attend COMECE meetings.

I would accompany Mgr Mercieca to these meetings and, at times, participate instead of him. I was immediately impressed by the positive approach of many of the bishops towards the EU and European affairs in general as well as their willingness to engage in dialogue with EU institutions and European society.

The work of the European Churches culminated in what is now Article 17 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which respects the status of Churches under national law and recognises “their identity and their specific contribution” whilst committing the Union to “maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with these Churches and organisations”. This article was inserted into the basic EU treaties by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007.

The Church in Malta has been rather silent on EU affairs. This may be the result of the fact that prior to Malta’s accession to the EU, the Church decided not to adopt a position on EU membership since it did not want to become embroiled in what was perceived to be a matter of political controversy.

When I attempted to initiate some kind of internal discussion on the EU in general, I was ‘exposed’ and accused of militating for the ‘Iva’ camp. That soon put an end to it all. Once we joined the EU, the political scenario changed and I tried to restart the process. I recall, for instance, a meeting I organised for pastoral operators with Simon Busuttil and Joseph Muscat who were then newly elected members of the European Parliament.

I hope that the opportunity provided by the Maltese presidency of the EU Council will lead to a greater presence of the Church in Malta in the ongoing reflection and debate on European issues.

The ‘Reflections’ are a good start. It is positive with some concrete proposals such as the recommendation for the EU and its institutions to set up an ‘ombudsperson’ structure to protect the interests of future generations whose role would be “to promote enlightened decisions by bringing into discussions the long-term effects of all political, socio-economic and technological decisions”.

With a new ‘eurosceptic’ President in Washington who, during the UK referendum campaign last year had called himself “Mr Brexit” and embraced leaders such as Nigel Farage, Europe needs to rediscover its roots to, as stated recently by outgoing US Ambassador to the EU Anthony Gardner, bear the weight of history “to carry the flame of democracy, human rights and values that have guided transatlantic partnership for decades”.