Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1513668
10 Looking back 2023 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 DECEMBER 2023 Return of the honest broker IF the business of government in the post-Muscat phase of Labour has been nothing but prose, Robert Abela has at- tempted to produce some po- etry for his country outside its shores. 2023 has been an important year for Malta's attempts at burnishing its long-held repu- tation as an honest broker on the foreign stage, despite being haunted by the legacy of the Caruana Galizia assassination and the Pandora's box of rule of law shortcomings it exposed. In various fora, Malta's name abroad represents something vague – between exotic out- sider in European travelogues and island-base for (onceup- onatime) crypto-bros and tax avoiders – yet always radically different to so many kinds of audiences. Malta can either be a week-long combination of sun, sea, food, history and clubbing, or the very tenuous 'paradise of corruption'. The Maltese tend to be overly conscious of their image abroad – when sullied, they will recoil in shock when it's one of their own who perpetrates an act of international embarrassment. When the critics are foreign, that embarrassment can turn into either shame, or vitriol- ic defensiveness. With an is- land-nation so needy of rec- ognition, there is little room for self-awareness. Apart from a few headlines, it is possibly true that nobody beyond Hurd's Bank gives a hoot about Malta... Off the greylist, on to the UN In 2023, Robert Abela's admin- istration took a step forward in revitalising once again Malta's name on the international stage. Freed from the blemish of the FATF greylisting and navigat- ing the choppy waters of GRE- CO's and the Venice Commis- sion's oversight on its legal and political reforms, Malta could look ahead for a bit of celebra- tion: at home, it used the Euro- pride convention in September to bolster once again Malta's 'unblemished' LGBTIQ record – on paper, it is top of the Eu- ropean league of queer rights. In practice, its law enforcement problems, the ones that also fail to protect women from the risk of domestic violence at home, might still leave Malta's queer population facing risks that so many other citizens do not have to face on a daily basis. But on the foreign policy front, it was Malta's presidency of the United Nations Security Council and its two-year-mem- bership that has set the tone. Coinciding with the first-year anniversary of the Russian in- vasion of Ukraine, Malta effec- tively presided the UN's high- est decision-making body at a moment of great tension: even simply extending an invita- tion to Ukraine to address the UNSC was fraught with protestations from Russia, a permanent member of the Council. But that job was left to the redoubtable Vanessa Frazier, Malta's per- manent representative to the UN, who armed with her pock- et rulebook on the UN's pro- cedures, gave Malta a dynamic rule in this forum. For the UN is a place that is ruled by the alarums of pro- cedure, where statements are rightfully burdened with mean- ing, and where mere words can be turned into a diplomatic bat- tleground. Malta used this stage to flex its diplomatic prowess by advancing friendly concerns dear to many small states – the bulk of the UN's members – such as climate change and its effect on islands and maritime zones. Vanessa Frazier, seasoned dip- lomat who in November con- veyed successfully a UNSC res- olution demanding a temporary humanitarian pause in Gaza, has served her country for the past 30 years across Europe. By her own admission, her job is underlined by her passionate patriotism for Malta. Woe be- tide they who criticise Malta: "They will find a lioness," she said back in February. Unfazed by the power dynamics of big countries whose political band- width soars higher than that of the UN's numerous minnows, Frazier spells out clearly the realpolitik of Maltese foreign policy in the UN. "It is a place in which every country's own national interest comes first," which means Malta must state its piece loudly, and clearly. Frazier says Malta is valued as a consistent and principled country. "And that is what's im- portant. The lesson I've learnt in here, is that you win only if you stick to your principles. If you don't compromise on your principles, you are always a winner." In New York, it has meant that Malta had to ensure dignified proceedings in a playground of political actors where the big boys find it easy to browbeat the smaller nations. Malta's choice of 'significant events' during its UNSC presidency in February and March, was climate action on sea-level rise, and the safe- guarding of children in conflict. The first subject especially mar- ried Malta's pioneering work on UNCLOS address a lacuna in the treaty on what happens to countries' maritime and economic rights when sea rise obliterates their coastlines. Malta will now chair the OSCE Permanent Council, the 57-member state regional se- curity body in Europe, again emerging as a consensus nation after Russia objected to Estonia taking over the leadership of the OSCE when North Macedonia's term is over. "Malta's ability to speak to everyone was the key aspect that tipped the balance in its favour," diplomatic sourc- es say. So, what is Maltese diplomacy about? Frazier has the answer: a behind-the-scenes approach of gentle negotiation promoting consensual outcomes and hon- est advice. "Malta is seen as an honest broker. We have abso- lutely nothing to gain from all this, so these countries look to Malta to show its leadership. 2023 marked Malta's return to a global stage in which the small-island nation burnished its international reputation to rediscover an important quality once believed to have been squandered, says MATTHEW VELLA Foreign minister Ian Borg (above, right) at the UN Security Council and Malta's UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier (inset)