Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/779073
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 JANUARY 2017 10 EU Summit BY IAN BORG Parliamentar y Secretar y for the EU Presidency 2017 2017 will be a memorable year for Malta, mostly because it is the year during which our country is holding the Presi- dency of the Council of the European Union for the first time. The period of time spanning from January to June of this year comes with a packed calendar of events, both politi- cal and cultural, and promises to be an exciting and interesting time rich with opportunities for all. One must however keep in mind that the EU Presidency also comes with responsibilities. Malta must stand at the helm and steer a direct course at a time of general political disquiet. The EU is al- so facing a disappointed and disillusioned response from its citizens; a feeling echoed across the world. There is a trust deficit in politics, and this is an issue which must be prioritised. The citizen's faith in the system must be restored. In light of this, we have to keep in mind that adopting populist measures for the sake of attracting citizens comes with its own set of consequences. The EU needs to truly keep the citizen at the centre of the decision-making process. Only by restoring and presenting a system that is genuinely concerned with the concerns of the people, can faith truly be restored. Seeming is not the same as being, and our thought process must focus on our citizens, remembering that the EU insti- tutions are here to work for them and for their interests. This is the kind of presidency we want; one that is built on strong foundations. The pillars we have chosen to support our work during these six months are ensuring the long term sustainability of the EU and restoring faith in the Euro- pean project. Based on these foundations, we chose our priorities within the framework of the trio programme devised with our partners the Netherlands and Slovakia. Our six-month political programme is based on six priorities, making room for variety and scope while ensuring that we retain focus and avoid steering off course. We have chosen priorities that matter to the European Union as a whole as well as to the individual citizen in his or her home. Migration is an issue that comes with tremendous effects. When responsibili- ties are not fairly distributed amongst all members of the European Union, migra- tion can cause a strain on the resources of countries who are shouldering a great- er load than they should. During these six months, we want to push discussions towards fairer sharing of this load. At the same time, migration is a deeply sensitive humanitarian issue. As a Union, we want to be able to aid in the safe relocation of asylum seekers, while also finding solutions closer to home for people seeking refuge, with the aim to avoid perilous travels for these individuals. Also close to the human heart is the need to feel safe. We have therefore pri- oritised security. The EU needs to work hard to combat the threats of terrorism, xenophobia and extreme nationalism which are currently hounding the conti- We promised a presidency that would focus on the citizen and we want to deliver, so we have chosen to prioritise social inclusion Adenauer, Ghandi Malta's Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech delivered one of the night's five speeches during the official opening ceremony of the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 11 January. And, like the prime minister before him, he too warned of the rise of nationalism and anti-EU sentiment. "We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon." Grech kicked off with a quote by Kon- rad Adenauer, a German statesman who served as the first post-war Chancellor of Germany (West Germany) from 1949 to 1963. The EU, he mused, was currently strug- gling with old-age issues while facing new challenges, including a stalling economy, increasing migration and incessant terrorist attacks. Grech said that the EU member states were facing these challenges together – under the same sky – but warned that the horizons were growing ever more apart. "As recent political developments on our continent and beyond have shown, we have ever-increasing and divergent horizons. The horizon of a growing num- ber of the world's citizens – spurred by feelings of uncertainty, fear and inequal- ity – has shifted," he said. Grech said the EU's quest to reunite Eu- rope would succeed or fail in 2017, which will be a decisive year for the bloc, as it struggles with Brexit and holds its breath in the run-up to elections in Germany, France and the Netherlands. Malta, he said, had chosen ReUnion as the main theme of its Presidency because it believed the EU needed to reunite with its citizens and that member states needed to reunite with one another. Again like Muscat before him, Grech too cautioned against anyone expecting too much out of the Maltese Presidency. "We are under no illusions about how much can be achieved during They – and make no mistake, amongst them are many Europeans –they are being persuaded to believe that home-spun national responses are more effective than European solutions. This has fuelled the re- emergence of extreme nationalism, protectionism, xenophobia and geo-political tensions, leading to citizen detachment. And it has caused leaders of various countries to disagree among themselves on the best way forward. The truth is none of us know what the long-term ramifications of recent events will be. The only thing we do know is that this is the scenario we face today and in the foreseeable future. What we are certain of is that European citizens have to be convinced that European Added Value can translate into Citizen Added Value. A time of responsibilities, The 2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union Louis Grech, Deputy Prime Minister of Malta