The leaders of EU countries converged on Brussels for the March European Council meeting in Brussels with several issues on the agenda.

While the agenda for discussion is normally set by European Union President Herman Van Rompuy, it would not be surprising to see that the discussion might steer away from what is down on paper.

The most obvious would be the situation in the Crimea and the Ukraine. Smaller EU nations that share an eastern border with Russia are already expressing concern over the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia. It is understandable that these concerns might be aired during the round table meeting.

Today’s European Council summit will also be assessing progress made in implementing country-specific recommendations made under the European semester, a cycle of economic and fiscal policy coordination with the EU.

But for Malta, the big issue will be immigration. It is understood that an “in depth policy debate” on EU relations with Africa is on the cards, in a build up to another summit slated for April, which will specifically deal with Africa.

The numbers of boat people heading over to Europe from Africa are increasing. Migrants are getting more and more desperate, and this is also evidenced by the increasingly more frequent attempts in North Africa to storm the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Recent parliamentary questions put by the opposition show that the trend is on the increase and numbers increased sharply following the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. Italy, Greece and Malta have lobbied within the EU’s structures to have more emphasis put on the state of affairs being faced in light of the ever increasing numbers. To that end, the EU put migration on the agenda and a special meeting has been set up for June.

The discussions of yesterday and today will give Malta a platform on which to build for the upcoming meetings. Another topic which is very relevant to Malta, is that of climate and energy. The EU has previously highlighted Malta’s “dire financial state of the main energy provider Enemalta” and “very limited diversification and poor environmental performance of its energy supply leading to high electricity tariffs.” But, given the government’s efforts in the energy sector, the outlook for Malta in the energy sector is expected to improve. There have been other developments, of course, including the investment in Enemalta by Shanghai Electric Power and the government’s setting up of the new gas fired powerplant, coupled with the interconnector to Sicily. The government has already stated that it will be looking into the possibility of gas being piped to Malta to fire the new plant and eliminate the floating LNG terminal. But that is a long-term project and the idea could be floated at this summit. So, all in all, it looks set to be a busy one. The issues included for discussion are relevant to Malta, and with Europe seemingly on an economic uptick and a lull in boatpeople arrivals, matters look set to be discussed calmly. But then again, as with every summit gathering, it will be a case of hoping for the best, planning for the worst and expecting the unexpected.