Many people believe that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s demands for €5 billion per year from Europe to stop Europe from “turning black” were either made in a moment of madness, or seen as a clear and direct threat to halt the controversial pushbacks that are now in place.

The absolute truth is that most people are wary of the pushback system, but accept it and quietly forget about it as the fundamental reality is that it has helped to drastically reduce the amount of immigrants who land on our shores.

But, to go back to Col. Gaddafi, the first thing we must understand is that he is merely posturing and preparing his negotiation grounds for the upcoming Africa-EU summit which is to be held in Sirte in November.

We must also bear in mind that these comments did not come out of the blue as there were already negotiations in place to draft a framework agreement between the EU and Libya on the subject of migration.

The European Commission was absolutely flummoxed by the Libyan leader’s demands, so much so that not a peep was heard from the corridors of Brussels until Wednesday afternoon, two days after Col. Gaddafi made the demands. The initial reaction was that the EC would not be commenting and this was interpreted by a great many people as an attempt to blackmail Europe.

In truth, negotiations on payment have been continuing behind the scenes for a great deal of time. Make no mistake, some form of payment will be made on a yearly basis. The Commission has since come out and said that “much more can be achieved with much less if we work together”.

Malta, Italy and Spain are united in their belief that it is essential that Libya gets financial help to police its borders, and are therefore backing the demand (request) for more money. While Northern Europe was absolutely taken aback by Col. Gaddafi’s approach, the Southern Mediterranean governments immediately realised that the Libyan leader is merely posturing. This is because these countries understand Arab ways. Like it or not, we share some of them. To explain it very simply, a person only has to watch a Maltese or a southern Italian or Spaniard when they barter with an Arab merchant.

The seller will quote a grossly over the top starting price, and this will eventually be whittled down to a fraction of the original amount. In the end, both parties tend to walk away happy. Trade, for Arab people, is not only a symbol of one’s negotiating power, it is also a sport – as is the posturing, gesticulating and chest-beating. For the Southern European, it is also sport and a battle of wits as to getting a price which he or she believes is a ‘bargain’.

Of course, it is never a bargain in the modern sense, but it is a bargain in old terminology. And that is what will happen at the upcoming EU-Africa Summit. Libya will make huge demands, Europe will counter. Libya will revise its demands and Europe will counter. And this is where Malta, Italy and Spain come in. These countries have a much greater understanding of bargaining and negotiating with Arab cultures and in particular, Libyans. Excluding negotiators from these three countries would be catastrophic. If Europe is intent on keeping with pushback policy, then Malta, Italy and Spain would probably come away with a much better deal than any of our northern cousins.