The failed Irish referendum which last June sent the EU into disarray may prove to be a blessing in disguise for Malta. According to a deal still to be confirmed today, Ireland will be holding a second referendum to ratify the treaty in less than ten months' time in exchange for a number of concessions. These will include the re-introduction of the prin-ciple that every member state should appoint a Commissioner on the influential EU Executive.
The deal, which is expected to be given the final authorisation from the other EU member states today, will mean that Malta will keep its seat on the EU Commission on a permanent basis.
According to the current version of the Lisbon Treaty, the number of EU Commissioners is to be reduced from 27 to 15 as from 2014, with member states losing the right to nominate a Commissioner once every five years. Instead, they will nominate a Commissioner on a rotation basis, losing their member for five years in every 15-year cycle.
Speaking to The Times yesterday night at the end of the first session of the summit meeting in Brussels, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi confirmed that Malta gave its green light to the deal so long as the new concessions won't necessitate another ratification process by the 24 member states that have already done so.
"The Irish Prime Minister informed me about his plan before the summit started and reiterated his suggestions to unblock the current situation during the meeting with all the EU leaders.
"Malta agrees with these suggestions and is ready to accept a deal."
On the permanence of a Maltese Commissioner, Dr Gonzi said that this is good news for Malta as it will mean that the smallest EU member state will still be guaranteed to be in the "crux of things" on a permanent basis.
"This has a much higher value for small member states like Malta," he said.
According to draft summit conclusions seen by The Times, the Irish Government will be holding a second referendum to ratify the Lisbon Treaty by October 31, 2009, "before the term of the current European Commission ends".
In exchange, apart from the changes to the composition of the European Commission, EU leaders are also expected to agree on a number of other "legal guarantees" to Ireland on "taxation policy, family, social and ethical issues, and common security and defence policy particularly with regard to Ireland's traditional policy of neutrality."
Despite these changes, the original text of the treaty is not expected to be amended in order to avoid the need for another ratification process by those member states that already approved the text through their respective Parliaments. The changes are now expected to be included in a new declaration to be annexed with the new treaty and which should reassure the Irish concerns.
Meanwhile, EU leaders today will be switching their attention onto energy and climate change to try to find a final agreement on a complicated raft of new EU rules imposing on member states obligatory energy-related benchmarks to be reached by 2020.
Among these, member states would have to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent on their 1990 levels, to produce 20 per cent of their energy requirements through clean technologies and to reduce their energy consumption by 20 per cent.
Many member states are still disagreeing on the many technical details of the plan and are threatening to block the deal.
The Prime Minister yesterday said that Malta agrees with the main principles of the submitted plan but still wants to iron out certain technicalities before giving its green light.