Whoever is elected to government in the next election will most probably be responsible for Malta’s first EU presidency in the first six months of 2017.

Malta will be one of the last of the 2004 member states to hold the EU presidency, preceded by Slovakia between July and December 2016 and followed by the UK from July 2017 onwards.

Until now, preparations for Malta’s presidency have been minimal or non-existent, even though the country is already preparing for a much less significant event: hosting the EU’s Cultural Capital in 2018.

The only significant step towards Malta’s presidency was made a few years ago when the government acquired a massive building in the heart of Brussels – Dar Malta – with enough space to host a much larger staff needed for the presidency.

Until then, the extra floors are being commercially rented to third parties.

The real preparations will probably start after the election, when a new government is expected to nominate a fully fledged Minister or Parliamentary Secretary for Europe. His task will be to get all things moving towards 2017.

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