Hot on the heels of having appointed a foreign policy chief, a move aimed at giving the European Union a more prominent role on the world stage, the bloc missed a golden opportunity in Copenhagen last week to cement the new global role it is looking to create for itself.

And although the EU emerged from the UN climate talks in Copenhagen with its head held high – having been the bloc of countries with the highest emission cut pledges and having at least attempted to set the bar for the rest of the world – it failed in terms of much of the world’s expectations.

It is true that, in the final hours of the two-week stretch of exasperating talks, any sort of deal appeared far out of reach. It is also true that in 11th-hour backroom talks, US President Barack Obama managed to clinch a deal with China, India, South Africa and Brazil practically out of thin air.

But European Commission President Barroso’s pronouncement, delivered to a late night press conference at the summit’s close, with head figuratively bowed in resignation, that a deal, any deal, was better than no deal at all is still very much open to debate.

Barroso acknowledged that the summit’s sum result was clearly “below the European Union’s goal”, adding in the same breath that “I will not hide my disappointment”.

He also expressed amazement that not a single country requested the EU to make good on its offer to raise its bid to a 30 per cent greenhouse gas emission cut. But such was the shortsightedness of the climate summit, and of the world’s leaders convened purportedly in the interests of the next and future generations.

The EU will, of course, be sticking to its 20 per cent pledge, which is legally binding, unlike the half-baked measures agreed to by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa last week.

China and the US are being held accountable for Copenhagen’s weak outcome – the US failed to adjust its reduction targets to meet global needs and China refused international emission monitoring obligations.

The EU came to the summit with a lofty pledge – to cut the bloc’s emissions by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, with the added dangling carrot that it would consider upping the ante to 30 per cent if other regional blocs were willing to consider adjusting their pledges along similar lines.

In stark contrast, the final American pledge, constrained as it was by partisan infighting over a domestic climate bill in the US Senate, failed to come up with more ambitious targets. All it did was reiterate its initial proposal to curb emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 – equating to a drop of about a mere four per cent below 1990 levels.

Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and other EU leaders were adamant earlier on the last night of Copenhagen talks that there would be no deal unless it was one of substance, but at some point on that long, long night the EU’s mettle to stand up to what emerged as a climate duopoly shared by the US and China, which practically rode roughshod over what most of the 190 plus countries assembled were looking for, left a considerable amount to be desired.

The EU could have used its clout far, far better and effectively missed a chance to truly lead the world’s interests where the US failed so poignantly.

The year to come

Much lies in store for Malta in the year to come, hardships and opportunities alike.

Households will have to cope with higher utility bills, irrespective of whether they are paying the EU’s highest electricity rates or not, but on the flipside the international recession is expected to lift and with it the dark clouds that have been shrouding the world’s markets, Malta included.

The government expects 2010 to be something of a watershed year, a year in which the projects it has plotted come to fruition through the approval of EU funding. But it will also be a year in which the state coffers will need to make good on their deficit and debt levels if Malta is to avoid further EU steps under the Excessive Deficit Procedure we have heard so much about this year.

One of Malta’s ministers is expected, provided all goes well at next month’s European parliament confirmations hearings, to be made an EU commissioner but that will also spark off either a full blown reshuffle of the Cabinet of Ministers or at least a filling of the void left by the outgoing minister. The debate over spring hunting will also wake from hibernation this spring and the government will, after the European Court of Justice verdict against the government’s intention to allow the practice, need to clarify its statement that there could be a possibility for a limited spring hunting season.

Bird migrations aside, the prospect of human migration next year will once again test Malta’s humanitarianism against its self-defence mechanisms, as Europe and much of the world looks on at the human tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean’s otherwise idyllic waters each summer.

Whether these and the scores of other developments waiting in the new year’s wings are challenges or opportunities, the end result for Malta will be the way in which its people and those governing the country rise to or make the most of situations to come.

Yes, the people will have to roll with some punches, but they will also need to be positioned to make the most of the cards they are dealt, be they deuces or aces.

And those governing the country will need put aside petty infighting and put the national interest well and truly first if the country is to move ahead in the coming year.

No strings philanthropy at last

Come what may of the final tally, which appeared positive but still very much an unknown quantity at the time of writing yesterday evening, this year’s L-Istrina fundraiser marked a clear break from past practice.

With President George Abela at the helm, the annual fundraiser has taken on a new role, a role of real philanthropy.

At the time of writing, the Maltese population was well and truly rising to the commendable challenge laid at their feet by President Abela, who personally opened yesterday’s ceremony, flanked by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, after the decision to no longer offer the prospect of tantalising prizes for those calling in with donations.

That practice had constituted a serious blemish on an otherwise altruistic and noble undertaking of lending a helping financial hand to those less fortunate and in dire need of assistance.

What we saw yesterday, and also in the lead up to the event, was a true collective national effort to raise money for a really good cause.

And if the results at yesterday’s halfway point were anything to go by, the people have responded to the President’s challenge whole-heartedly.

A hearty thanks to the President for having put so much energy into this year’s event, for courageously shedding past L-Istrina practices and for putting the people’s generosity and empathy to the litmus test, a test they had already passed with flying colours by yesterday’s halfway mark.