On 11 December, Malta’s Permanent Representative to the European Union, Ambassador Marlene Bonnici, led the Maltese delegation at a meeting of the General Affairs Council in Brussels.

The focus of the meeting was to prepare for the European Council summit which will take place later this week today and tomorrow and which will be attended by the Prime Minister.

The summit will discuss the further development of the Economic and Monetary Union, including a proposal for a Single Supervisory Mechanism for European banks. This latter item was prepared in further detail at a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council yesterday.

Other issues which will be discussed at the upcoming summit are the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, EU enlargement and foreign policy.

The meeting also held an exchange of views on the latest proposal of the Cyprus Presidency to increase the number of judges of the General Court of the European Union. Member states remain divided as to how to proceed in this respect. Malta has strongly and consistently held that any increase in judges must respect the principle of equality for all member states. As no agreement could be reached on the basis of the Cyprus Presidency proposal, it was agreed that Council will remain seized of the issue in the coming months.

The member states received a presentation by the upcoming Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (January – June 2013) on its plans for the implementation of the 2013 European Semester.

Finally, draft Council Conclusions on enlargement and the Stabilisation and Association Process were discussed. The meeting focused its discussion on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo.

The specific time-line on the opening of negotiations for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia, and the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in the case of Kosovo, will depend on the outcome of the Council’s assessment of the Spring (2013) Progress Report.