It has been said time and time again that Malta is a fundamental bridge between the Maghreb and European worlds thanks to the island’s geographical position, its time-honoured relationships as well as certain cultural and linguistic similarities with our southern neighbours.

And if there was ever a time when that bridge should be well and truly commissioned, that time is now. Following the massive political and social upheavals in the Egypt and Tunisia, and ongoing protests and calls for democratic representation in Libya and Algeria, it must be ensured that the revolts in the Maghreb for starters do not result in yet more dictatorships or in the assumption of power of extremist forces and hence the realisation of the West’s worst fears.

Despite the fact that the media has been occasionally critical of Malta’s relative silence on the situations in the Maghreb since Tunisia erupted back in January, the government now appears to be taking a more active, concrete role in helping those countries to shape their futures.

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg yesterday met with representatives of the Tunisian interim government, including the Prime Minister, and was one of the first European Union ministers to have done so since the revolt.

Considering the fact that EU foreign ministers will begin meeting today to discuss their response to the situations in the Maghreb and in other Arab countries in states of flux, Dr Borg’s visit yesterday also carried the clout of the European Union.

As he said yesterday, the European Union has a significant role to play in Tunisia and the wider Maghreb thanks to the traditional ties between the regions. And he will be seeking to convey the message to his fellow ministers today and tomorrow in Brussels, where they will explore ways of enhancing the bloc’s policy towards its Arab neighbours following the pro-reform revolts.

“Here the EU has an excellent opportunity to make its presence felt…and I will be stressing this point tomorrow at the meeting of foreign ministers,” he says.

But in addition to yesterday’s talks, most of which will remain off the record and only for the ears of Dr Borg’s EU counterparts, Malta is playing another important role, at EU level, in addressing the Maghreb.

Malta and a small group of mostly southern EU member states on Friday published a document calling on the EU to rethink its aid policy toward its Mediterranean neighbours, in order to increasingly tie assistance to human rights in light of the recent revolts in Arab nations.

The document proposes a reinforcement of the European Neighbourhood Policy - an EU aid programme for former Soviet states and Middle Eastern countries near its borders worth €12 billion for the 2007-2013 period.

The document was penned by Malta, Cyprus, France, Greece, Slovenia and Spain and calls on the EU to change the way it distributes aid between countries, based on “progress by partner states towards EU values”.

The six-country clutch called for a “reinforcement of the means” of the neighbourhood policy, “notably vis-à-vis the (countries in the) south”. Yes, the ENP, which has proven successful in several countries, and should be made flexible enough to be able to shift priorities and to direct its funding where it is most urgently needed. Otherwise, the ENP should be bolstered from a monetary perspective as one-off forms of assistance for the Maghreb and other states that find themselves in similar positions.

The Maghreb aside, government officials are expected to be travelling to Israel and Palestine in the near future. And here Malta has a track record of a role to play as a valuable interlocutor.

Malta has played many a role in the peace process, from hosting and insisting on the holding of conferences as well as the role of the late Guido de Marco, a long-time friend of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who when serving as President of the UN General Assembly took a controversial decision to visit Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan – provoking the ire of the United States, which had seen Palestinians supporting Saddam Hussein against Kuwait in the first Gulf War and which regarded the trip as a “visit to the enemy”.

As witnessed recently, the decision taken all that time ago still lives on in the memory and it will not be forgotten.

No, Malta will not solve the problems plaguing the Middle East peace process or the transition to real democratic representation in the Maghreb…but it can certainly help.