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BUSINESSTODAY 17 October 2019

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17.10.19 10 INTERVIEW Malta's significant impact as honest MASSIMO COSTA What are your duties as head of the EU secretariat within the Ministry for European Affairs? e EU Secretariat, recently been renamed the EU Coordi- nation Department, is respon- sible for coordinating consoli- dated positions on all European Union matters. My role is to ensure that our representatives in Brussels have clear instructions, to en- able them to effectively partic- ipate in discussions on legisla- tion or policy that will impact Malta and its citizens. Such in- structions have to be coherent and emphasis needs to be made on word consolidated if are to be effective as a Member State. Many a times we need to en- sure that we find a fair balance between the interests of dif- ferent ministries, that may be conflicting, and that take into account both the discussions taking place in Brussels as well as the impact of any proposals on Maltese stakeholders. Insofar as the coherence of our positions is concerned, the importance of this is many times underestimated but I think this is intrinsically relat- ed to our credibility around the EU negotiating tables. In other words, if we are to be really ef- fective and safeguard our inter- ests, we need to be credible to have reliable allies and partners in different policy areas. Such credibility can only be achieved if we're seen as a consistent and reliable partner. Last but not least, we also oversee and monitor the transposition of EU Direc- tives. Although we (as a De- partment) might not have a direct role in their implemen- tation, we try to ensure that as a government we uphold our commitment to correctly implement and transpose EU law in a timely manner. You also head the Brexit Unit, which must take up a lot of your time and attention. How big an input did Malta have in terms of the EU's position when negotiating Brexit with the UK? e Brexit negotiations have undoubtedly taken a lot of my time over the past two and a half years since the negotia- tions started. As regards our input, I think that it's been significant. And I'll sustain my point with concrete examples. First and foremost is a point that many people tend to for- get. e principal set of guide- lines establishing the param- eters for the Chief Negotiator were agreed and concluded during Malta's Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Whilst I don't want to give the impression that our government wants to all the credit for this achievement, it had a role in persuading the rest of the Member States on their content before they were actually adopted by the leaders and the European Council. In this regard, it is imperative to note that these are still referred to this day, more than two years later and their content is still relevant. Secondly, in the Article 50 meetings where Member States were being regularly consulted by the Chief Nego- tiator ahead and after negoti- ations with the UK, we had as significant an input as any oth- er Member State. For instance, and more concretely, I remem- ber that when we were discuss- ing the Citizens' rights chapter of the Withdrawal Agreement, Dr. Helena Dalli (then Mal- ta's Minister for European Af- fairs and Equality) had raised a point about the importance of treating the children of ben- eficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement born before the end of the transition period in the same way as those who are born after. is proposal was eventually included in the legal text and there were many other (proposals like it). Last, at the very highest of levels, amongst Heads of gov- ernments and State, in the Eu- ropean Council, I think we are seen as neutral and honest bro- kers. Fortunately, throughout these negotiations, the Union has always been very united in its approach and its positions and I don't think there was ever an issue where we've been dis- appointed at our negotiating team or our position. What was the Maltese government's main priority in its preparation for the UK's withdrawal from the EU? One word: Citizens. Since the very beginning of the process the government was always aware that there was a significant diaspora of Maltese in the UK and of UK nationals in Malta. ese had made life choices and exer- cised their rights to move free- ly between our countries. We wanted to give them clarity and peace of mind, also considering their valuable contribution to our society. is is why this was our first priority and the first thing we wanted to sort out. And in this regard, we have not left any stone unturned. We considered their rights to access the labour market, to access the national health services and in other im- portant areas. ese were and will be protected regardless of whether there will be a deal or not, and we are very pleased that the UK government will do the same for Maltese na- tionals in the UK. We then also looked into the potential impacts on our economy, our trade links and other important areas to make preparations accordingly. The ministry has just launched its "Brexit Be Prepared" campaign, wherein it will be ensuring that all government departments are up to speed on any actions and new regulations that might need to come in effect on 1 November. What are the major changes we can expect? ere will be changes in dif- ferent areas because the regu- latory environment in the EU is not homogenous in all sectors. e government saw what the potential impact in different sectors could be and tried to ensure that we prepared as best as we could. ere will definitely be larger traffic volumes in customs be- cause rules will change when it comes to trade with the United Kingdom. ere will be more thorough checks at airports and ports for people travelling to and from the United King- dom, and there will be different regulations to place products from the UK on EU Markets. Having said all this, I am confident in our preparations. Whilst I am aware that not all will be business as usual, I am optimistic that there will not be any major disruptions. As part of the campaign, you also announced that full drills will be carried out across all government departments. What will this entail? is is something that Min- ister Zammit Lewis started working on immediately as soon as was given the respon- sibility for this portfolio and as part of his push to intensify the As head of the Brexit Unit and the EU Coordination Department within the Ministry of EU Affairs, Glenn Micallef has been spearheading Malta's preparations for any Brexit deal. He explains to BusinessToday what has been achieved this far and how Malta was percieved in the Brexit negotiations

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