On January 1 Malta assumes the chairmanship of the EU Council of Ministers. Undoubtedly this is a historic moment for Malta.
The presidency of the council rotates among the EU member states every six months. During this six-month period, the presidency chairs meetings at every level in the council, helping to ensure continuity in the EU’s work in the council.
Malta, which will work closely with two other countries, the Netherlands and Slovakia, has a daunting task ahead.
It has to deal with the triggering of Brexit, the flowering of populist anti-immigration parties in Germany, France, Italy and some other EU member countries, an anti-establishment (Trumpism) wave, and the Turkish problem.
The Prime Minister and his Cabinet will also have to deal with an Opposition that seems to be gripped by the sour grapes syndrome and is determined to make life difficult in the EU for the Labour government.
I have not put pen to paper for many months. However two weeks before Malta takes over the chairmanship of this council, I feel I should remind readers that there was another momentous occasion connected with Europe in which I was involved.
In 1978, Malta, also by rotation, took over the chair of the Committee of Ministers’ Representatives of the Council of Europe. I was selected by then Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, who at that time was also the foreign minister, to represent him as chairman on this committee. I was also appointed as Malta’s ambassador to the Council of Europe.
Granted the importance of the Council of Europe which presently has 47 member states, dwarfs compared to the EU council made up of 28 member states. This is because it cannot make binding laws.
However it does have the power to enforce select international agreements reached by European states on various topics.
It focuses on promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The best known body of the Council of Europe is the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights.
When I took over as chairman of the Ministers’ Deputies in March 1978 the council had 23 members including the 10 founder members.
I had been a member of Parliament only two years and because of my keen interest in international affairs, the Labour Party parliamentary group selected me as one of the members of Parliament to represent it in Council of Europe. True to my character I became completely immersed in the work of the council.
I must have impressed Mintoff because he was a leader who took a keen interest in the parliamentary group.
In January 1978 the Labour MPs organised a football game against media representatives to raise money for charity.
Mintoff rarely attended public activities like these. However on that day he came to present a commemorative medal to all those who took part. I played well on that day.
When Mintoff was pinning the medal on my chest, he told me “Issa fl-Ewropa trid tilgħab tajjeb ġbin” (Now you have to play well in Europe, mate).
There were only two occasions when the Council of Europe hit the press. When Brigitte Bardot and Dom Mintoff addressed the assembly
I confess I did not understand what he meant until a week later when Maurice Abela, head of the Foreign Office, sent for me and informed me that it was Malta’s turn to take over the chairmanship of the Council of Europe Minsters’ Deputies and the Prime Minister wanted me to do the job.
He explained that in 1970 it was Malta’s turn by rotation to chair this council but the Nationalist administration missed that opportunity. This time Mintoff wanted to exploit the opportunity to emphasise the Mediterranean dimension.
I confess I was taken aback. My jaw dropped. How could I, a militant member of the Labour Party since I was 18 years old, accustomed to the rough and tumble of politics, become a diplomat?
A seasoned diplomat once told me: “Reno, diplomacy is like a guitar. Everyone can hold it, but not everybody can play it.’’
Malta was due to take over the chairmanship in May 1978. It was not an easy time for Europe. Aldo Moro had just been murdered by the Red Brigades. Turkey and Greece were sworn enemies on the Cyprus question.
Western Europe looked with suspicion at Mintoff’s determination to close the British base a year later. There were a lot of prejudice and misconceptions about Malta among the MPs and ambassadors in the Council of Europe. We were considered the errand boy of Gaddafi.
The Nationalist MPs were busy spreading the alarm that after the British would leave Malta would become a Chinese satellite because Enver Hoxha, the Albanian communist leader, broke ranks with China.
After Richard Nixon’s visit to China in February l972, Hoxha accused Mao Tse Tung and Chu En Lai of cozying up to American imperialism.
It was in this scenario that 38 years ago, on May 30, 1978, I chaired the first meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies, feeling like a fool where angels fear to tread.
I am indebted to John Cachia, a high official at the Foreign Office who was an expert in international affairs and who from months before I took over, taught everything about Europe. Until his death last year, we remained close friends. Maurice Abela always encouraged me and gave me excellent briefs.
I never felt so grateful to brilliant academic Peter Leuprecht who was the secretary of the committee of ministers. The fact that I adopted the Socratic approach with him worked wonders.
He was always at my side during the meetings. Each time I got stuck on the procedure as chairman, I would put off the loudspeaker and he would patiently give me his opinion.
I had to push on the agenda between Mondays and Tuesdays because I had to be in Malta to do my duty in Parliament which met every Wednesday.
Alas gratitude in politics is a negligible quantity. Special thanks goes also to Alex Sciberras Trigona who formed part of the Prime Minister’s delegation in Strasbourg for the invaluable work to organise the questions which the legislative MPs had for the Prime Minister. He is a very organised person and given I was overwhelmed by the occasion, he wasa godsend.
During those six months I rarely saw my wife and three children. I did all this without being paid one single cent more than the salary of an MP. I was, and still am an idealist. Money was never my top priority in life.
At the end of Malta’s chairmanship on September 20, 1978, Mintoff as the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister made his famous speech to the assembly of the Council of Europe.
It was in this speech that gave the famous warning that there will be no peace in Europe unless there is peace in the Mediterranean.
During question time, the conservative block, obviously prompted by the Nationalist MPs, taunted Mintoff accusing him that he was a dictator, that he was selling Malta to Libya and the Soviet Union, and that he was a threat to democracy in Europe. Mintoff was always at his best when he was cornered. He was simply brilliant and torn those MPs to pieces.
His speech created furore in the press.
One French newspaper said that there were only two occasions when the Council of Europe, considered as a paper tiger, hit the press. When Brigitte Bardot and Mintoff addressed the assembly.
Reno Calleja is a former Labour MP.