Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/779073
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 JANUARY 2017 EU Summit 3 This is where it starts to count T he smallest member state of the European Union holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. We've heard it all by now: what it means, what Malta's priorities are, what will happen these six months, and what to expect. Fact is, the presidency probably means different things to different people. As you go down the social lad- der – from the country's leaders and politicians, through the bureaucrats, business leaders, civil society and middle management, and on to blue-collar workers, stay at home mums and the man on the street – this Presidency takes on a different dimension. I am sure that anyone polling the residents of Valletta on what they thought of the Presidency, would be risking a very colourful, public lynching. The capital's irate denizens would tell you that they are frustrated at the excessive cordoning off of streets and the abysmal chances of them finding anywhere to park. Not to mention having the police waking you up at 6am to move your car or risk having it towed – at your expense, of course. Don't get me wrong, I am not – and do not want to be – privy to any security briefing that led the police to clear three-fourth's of Valletta's streets ahead of any official vehicle or car-cade passing through. So they must have had their reasons. The point is, if things have been bad so far, they are bound to get worse next week, as the heads of government or state of all 28 EU member states come to Malta for an informal summit on Friday. They will, of course, be joined by other dignitaries from Brussels, their entourages, interpreters, gofers, journalists, their families and friends. The summit is the first true test of the Maltese Presidency, as the heads of state will discuss migra- tion and the central Mediter- ranean route – issues that are at the very core of the agenda of this presidency. Since 2015, the resources and assets for EU operations at sea have tripled, contributing to saving more than 400,000 people in the Mediterranean. However, the increase in migration along the Central Mediterranean route, where over 181,000 migrants and refugees arrived to the EU in 2016, has also led to record levels of loss of life at sea. And although the migration cri- sis has almost disappeared from Malta's worries, it still remains a consuming problem for the bloc. Indeed, Malta remains active in the search for solutions, having also hosted an emergency migra- tion summit in November 2015. The issue was already discussed this week at another informal summit in Valletta – this time for the home affairs ministers of the member states. At the end of that summit, European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramo- poulos told the media that the EU needed to focus on reducing the number of crossings on the Cen- tral Mediterranean route, after the EU-Turkey agreement had drastically reduced the number of migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey. He also encouraged the Maltese Presidency to pursue its efforts to find a compromise suitable for all member states on a solidarity mechanism that would leave no country alone in its handling of migrants that make it to Europe. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, in the first press conference of the Presidency, which as also ad- dressed by Commission president Jean Claude Juncker, was more fortright. "Solidarity is not an à la carte sentiment," he said. "We preached it when we needed it, and we're practising it when other countries need it." The EU and Malta seem to be on the same page. It is to be hoped that the 1,500 meetings to be held in Brussels and Luxembourg, as well as the additional 200 meetings – at all levels – held in Malta during these six months of the Presiden- cy, will lead to solid consensus. This first summit should set the tone of things to come. Paul Cocks is Assistant Editor at MaltaToday Paul Cocks pcocks@mediatoday.com.mt MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 • Fax: (356) 21 385075 www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: maltatoday@mediatoday.com.mt "Social Europe : The X-Factor of the European Union" – Muscat O n 18 January, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat stepped back into the European Parliament building in Strasbourg – after having served there between 2004 and 2008 – to address MEPs on the priorities of the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union. He admitted it was an emotional moment, recalling those exciting days of being among the first newly-elected members of the European Parliament from among the then 'new member states'. He went through the Maltese Presidency's core priorities: migration, the single market, security, social inclusion, Europe's neighbourhood and the maritime sector. On migration, he reminded MEPs that Malta had been harping for more than a decade that the migration situation in the Mediterranean was unsustainable. "We were amongst the first to sow the seeds, within this Parliament, on the need of responsi- bility sharing, and that the burden of managing the flows cannot fall exclusively on the shoulders of front line Member States," he said. "Yet, we were left almost alone, for many years, trying to overcome a crisis which was not our making. The only solution we were given, only at times, was some more money. But that is not a solution." Muscat said Europe could not afford to be caught up in another migration conundrum, like the one that led to the agreement with Turkey. "Let me not mince my words. I see no way in which one single member state can manage or absorb this further wave. Thus, the essence of the core principles of the European Union will be seriously tested unless we act now," he said. Muscat promised the MEPs that the Maltese Presidency would be keeping the European Par- liament involved in the Brexit process, once Brit- ish PM Theresa May triggers Article 50 to start exit negotiations with the EU. At the same time, he urged them to adopt a consistent approach aimed at safeguarding the European project, and not punishing a particular country. The Prime Minister engaged the MEPs on the issue of solidarity, which he said he believed to be the essence of the 60year-old European project. "It is an ethos that no other group of nations can say is theirs. It is a characteristic that no trade deal can aspire to replicate. Indeed, Social Europe is the X-Factor of the European Union. You either have it or you do not," Muscat said. Social Europe, he said, was the unique European essence, the real scope behind projects such as the single market and the Euro. "We are proud to put Social Europe back on the agenda, in synch with the Commission's recent work," Muscat said. "I strongly believe that matching this dimension with policies conducive to economic growth and more and better jobs, can help provide a guid- ing light not only to our people, but also to the global community that is looking for progressive leadership." Maltese PM Joseph Muscat addressing the European Parliament plenary during the debate on @EU2017MT presidency I am sure that anyone polling the residents of Valletta on what they thought of the Presidency, would be risking a very colourful, public lynching