Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1509422
12 EWROPEJ maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 11 OCTOBER 2023 I have to admit that I never got around to reading the full text of the EU's 'Acquis Commu- nautaire' – perhaps unsurpris- ingly, given that it currently runs into around 110,000 pag- es (with 5,000 new ones being added every year) – but still: I'm fairly convinced that there is no single line, anywhere in that document, which states that: "… The Conservatives shall inherit the entire European Union: lock, stock, and two smokin' barrels! And mean- while, all other political parties on the European spectrum – including not just the Social- ists, but also the Greens, the Liberals, etc. – will have to just content themselves with the mere scraps, that sometimes fall from the EPP's (heavily overladen) table…" Now: I stand to be corrected, of course… but I'm pretty cer- tain that none of that is actual- ly specified, in so many words, by any of the EU Treaties. And let's face it: that's probably just as well, too… because which country, in its (ahem!) 'right' mind, would even want to be permanently governed by the same old political party; repre- senting the same-old 'conserv- ative policies'… year, after year, after year? Leaving aside that even the conservatives themselves would eventually get sick of it (I mean: just look at what hap- pened to the Nationalists, af- ter 25 years of uninterrupted rule… and what seems to hap- pening to Labour today: after only one measly little decade!) But it would also defeat the whole point of the EU, wouldn't it? (Assuming, of course, that its purpose still includes 'acting as a safeguard against 'TYRAN- NY' and 'DICTATORSHIP'.) And yet, and yet… this is pre- cisely what seems to be hap- pening in the EU, today. It ap- pears as though the European People's Party has somehow managed to wangle itself a to- tal monopoly over ALL that in- stitution's major power-nodes – including, naturally, the Eu- ropean Commission (which wields by far the most legisla- tive/executive power); and also, the (less powerful, but hugely influential) European Parlia- ment… … while the European So- cialists, the European Liberals, and (especially) the European Greens, are simply nowhere to be seen at all, anywhere on Europe's entire political 'pow- er-grid'. And what's more: all this seems to be happening, with the express CONSENT of all those other political parties (you know: the ones which are being manifestly 'short-changed', in the same transaction). In other words: it's not as though the EPP has sim- ply 'beaten all other parties' to those positions, fair-and- square, in a democratic con- test… it's just that the Eu- ropean Socialists, European Liberals, and European Greens are only too happy (or 'lazy', if you prefer) to just sit back, and allow the Europe's Conserv- ative forces to simply impose their own stamp, on the EU's entire policy/legislation plat- form… UNCONTESTED! Erm… much as I hate to drag in football, as a lazy way to con- coct an instant analogy [note: I'm usually the first to 'cry foul', when others do exactly that]: it reminds me of that old saying about the off-side rule, attrib- uted to some commentator or other back in the 1970s: "If a player is not 'interfering with play'… what the heck is he even doing on the pitch?" But meanwhile – because I've run ahead of myself slightly, here – this is how the same situation was described (in more 'deadpan' tone) by my colleague Matthew Vella, in an article entitled: 'Brussels horse-trading: Metsola could net second presidency'. "[Metsola] is being lined up for a second term at the helm of the European Parlia- ment. In the game of political horse-trading for the top po- sitions in Europe, little might change for Metsola or Com- mission president Ursula von der Leyen…" "[…] The future power line- up in Brussels, typically shared between the major political blocs, is a whispered secret: Portugal's socialist prime min- ister Antonio Costa […] is tapped to be the next president of the European Council; the foreign affairs post of External Representative would move into the hands of [the Europe- an liberals…]; and for the EPP, no change at the top – Ursula von der Leyen and Metsola get reconfirmed for second man- dates." Got that, folks? 'No change at the top'. That is to say: both Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and EP Presi- dent Roberta Metsola, will get to simply retain their current positions… not, of course, on the strength of their own out- standing achievements, in those particular roles (Let's not forget that the latest Eu- robarometer survey actually revealed that 'trust in the EU's direction' has plummeted by a staggering 65%, since those two took over…) … but merely for lack of any actual 'challenge', coming from any other political party, any- where in Europe today! Meanwhile, of course, the Eu- ropean Socialists are content to sign off on a manifestly 'rotten' deal, for their own party – and which would, incidentally, al- so condemn the EU to another five years of 'lurching head- long towards the Right' (like it's already doing, even as we speak)… … presumably, because it means that another European Socialist (Antonio Costa) will get to preside over the Council of Europe, after the outgoing Charles Michel. And OK: I'll admit that – on paper, at least – 'President of the Council of Europe' does sound like a rather grand title to be landed with, as the result of any self-respecting 'back- room deal'… But there are two small prob- lems, with this measly little scrap that just fell (once again) from the EPP's table. One: the Council of Europe is - as the name itself suggests - defined as a 'consultative' member, within a triumvirate that also includes the EPP-led Commission, and the EPP-led European Parliament… … and as such, it can only 'ad- vise' the Commission on poli- cy-direction (leaving both the Commission, and Parliament, free to simply disregard its counsels at will). And two: judging by the roaring 'success' that Charles Michel actually made of his Presidency of that Council, over the past few years… well, it's a bit like that 'offside anal- ogy', again. Only this time, the saying goes: "If a 'Socialist' Council President is not even going to lift the tiniest of his little fin- gers, to give the EU a slightly more 'Socialist' direction than They call it 'horse-trading', but… why is only the EPP benefitting from the deal? Raphael Vassallo