By the time that this contribution appears in print I will be in Bratislava for the launch of the official consultations on the Trio Presidency preparations of the Netherlands, Slovakia and Malta. Although I have already had informal bilateral consultations with the State Secretaries of both our Trio partners, this week’s meeting is the first step in the formal opening of negotiations that will lead us to the preparation of a joint 18-month programme with the Netherlands and Slovakia together with the President of the Foreign Affairs Council, in close cooperation with the Commission and the President of the European Council.
Implementation of this 18-month programme kicks off on the 1 January, 2016 under the Presidency of the Netherlands. This programme is the point of departure and the framework for a more detailed six-monthly work programme that each Presidency, including Malta, prepares and circulates at the beginning of its term. As is already known, Malta’s Presidency runs from the 1 January till the end of June 2017. But by the beginning of the Netherlands Presidency we should already have identified the main issues that we wish to be given priority during our Presidency.
We have already given a first indication of what these issues might be namely the Mediterranean, in particular the European Neighbourhood Policy as it applies to the Southern Mediterranean, the evolution of the common asylum policy in the light of the growing migration problem and the development of a European Maritime strategy apart from other social issues like poverty and social exclusion among others. However, there is no formal decision yet on these issues. Moreover, the agenda of a Presidency could also be over-shadowed by unforeseen international events and crisis, like the current situation in Ukraine which has dominated the last European Union Council meeting or the referendum on EU membership in the United Kingdom irrespective of whether this is held in the first or second half of 2017.
The Bratislava meeting has three specific objectives namely to exchange views on the level of preparedness of each Trio partner, to approve the timeline and modalities of the Trio programme preparations, to explore some of the key political and strategic objectives and to discuss further possibilities of cooperation.
In recent months, and in view of the Bratislava meeting, apart from consultations with my Cabinet colleagues, I have embarked on an outreach and consultation process with constituted bodies, social partners, professional entities, local organizations and other components of Malta’s civil society. Also, last week, I had another one to one meeting with my counterpart in the Opposition Party ahead of the Bratislava meeting. We are very conscious and careful to ensure that Malta’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2017 is organized on a bi-partisan level and involving the different sectors of the Maltese society as we promised to do in our electoral manifesto.
Although our Presidency of the Council of the EU is still three years away, preparatory work in the organisation of the Presidency is progressing at a steady pace both with respect to the programming and training as well as the logistical aspects.
Together with our Permanent Representation in Brussels work has already started in identifying what could be the policy priorities of the European Union by Council formations during the period 2016-2017. Account has to be taken also of the decision-making changes brought about by the Lisbon Treaty that will come into effect during our Presidency like, for example, the new system of qualified majority voting that will become obligatory on 1 April, 2017.
Account has to be taken also of the EU Institutional Calendar 2016-2017. We already know, for example, that during our Presidency, on the 25 March, 2017 will mark the 60th Anniversary from the signature of the Treaty of Rome an important occasion that should be commemorated in an appropriate manner.
From a logistical point of view, work has also started on identifying the Informal Ministerial meetings that will be held in Malta during our Presidency. It is for the country hosting the Presidency to decide the number of these informal meetings which ultimately will be financed by the Presidency. This apart from other special events and activities which will be organized in Malta during the presidency. An initial list of activities is being drawn up to serve as a basis for the necessary decisions on the national calendar for the presidency, taking into account EU needs and past practices, Malta’s own areas of special interest, and budgetary realities.
Our aim is that while exercising strict control over expenditures connected with the presidency, we ensure that we adequately fulfill the tasks expected of us, and at the same time offer the Maltese population a chance to participate in and benefit from the special opportunities for information and outreach provided by the presidency.
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Dr. Ian Borg is the Parliamentary Secretary for EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds