Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/860911
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 AUGUST 2017 Opinion 20 M alta's association with the EU has been an eventful one and following our membership in 2004 as well as our accession to the Schengen Area and the Euro Zone four years later, our six-month Presidency of the Council of the EU must surely rank among one of the highlights. Work and effort have undoubtedly gone into the preparations for the six-month activity, and it is pleasing to see that the Presidency did manage to close some important dossiers, such as roaming. It failed on some others, like the migration dossiers, but as explained rather well by MP David Stellini, in his parliamentary speech, the set goal to close migration dossiers was overly ambitious and no one really expected the Maltese Presidency to make headway on this front. So all in all this Presidency can be considered as an encouraging testimonial to the Maltese worker who has once again been able to punch above his weight, despite our small administration. It's a pity that the Presidency happened in the shadows of the Panama Papers scandal which rocked the Maltese political scene and the Prime Minister's decision to call a snap election to suit his party's needs. Apart from being an opportunity to showcase our work ethic and determination, the Presidency has also been a good opportunity to showcase our culture and what our country has to offer both in terms of being an attractive business proposition as well as a tourist destination. The challenge now is for Malta to ensure that it does not fall into the trap of complacency following the hype that came along with the hosting of the EU Presidency. Although our role within the Council will, from now on, cease to be the glamorous one of presiding over Council meetings, there still is an awful lot of work that needs to be done that is just as important. We must keep in mind that the EU will continue to legislate on bread and butter issues on a daily basis and therefore it is imperative that our administration does not let its eye off the ball. If it does so, it will be a huge disservice to our citizens and businesses who have been the greatest benefactors of EU membership so far. It is important that all the Maltese administration that is tasked with EU-related duties, ranging from our officers based in Brussels at the Permanent Representation to those serving at the various ministries and agencies in Malta, is able to shift its mindset back to that of an active Member State that will fight tooth and nail to ensure that its interests are safeguarded within the various fora where EU negotiations are held. It would be a huge mistake to consider the six-month Presidency of the Council of the EU as an end in itself and not as part of our development as an EU Member State and to continue building from the experience gained over the past months. To give an example, in the immediate future, Brexit negotiations will surely be high on the EU's agenda, and within this context, we must keep in mind that Malta has been listed as one of the countries most vulnerable to the ramifications of a United Kingdom outside the EU. It is therefore important that we get it right. Similarly, there are countless other files within the different areas that fall within the EU's competence that may have a particular impact on our country if not handled well. Therefore, now that the Presidency is over and our country reverts back to its more familiar role around the EU's negotiating table, we should continue to assiduously defend Malta's interests while helping to shape the EU's future direction on the basis of our national experiences and those of our EU partners. Frank Psaila presents Iswed Fuq Abjad on Net TV We must defend Malta's interests while helping to shape the EU's future direction Apart from being an opportunity to showcase our work ethic and determination, the Presidency has also been a good opportunity to showcase our culture and what our country has to offer T here is one episode in The Handmaid's Tale which seems even more chilling than the entire theme of the series because, just as we had become used to the strange dystopian world, it suddenly swerves us back without any warning to what is considered 'normal' in our society. One minute we are in the bizarre world of bonnets and long gowns, where young women are kept as slaves in order to procreate for the master and (barren) mistress of the house. And the next we are swept through the door of a brothel where scantily clad and naked girls are scattered round a room for the pleasure of the male patrons. The upstairs bedrooms provide a place to get even more intimate. The scene is chilling because the whole set up is at once depressingly familiar, reminiscent of a world which, in the series, has long vanished ("I thought these kind of places were forbidden" June tells the Commander) and yet it is darkly ironic. For here, the aptly-named Jezebels with their sexy, fancy clothes, better food, and all the drugs and alcohol they want, seem on the surface to be living a much better life than their prudishly-dressed enslaved sisters – and yet, in essence they have still both remained slaves to the power structure put into place by these men who have created this new world where women's rights have been erased. There is a further layer of irony, of course, in that these ostensibly deeply conservative men, who have nothing but contempt for women's sexuality and view intercourse as a mechanical exercise which exists purely for the purpose of breeding, start to reveal themselves as being just as lustful and desirous of sexual pleasures as they were in the past. Speaking about this episode, producer Kyra Synder points out that they wanted to deliberately show the contrast between the areas where the men meet the Jezebels, and the private spaces where the two main characters, Moira and June, meet up: "They're a little sadder, a little tattier. We looked at representing things like refugee camps and places where women are sexually trafficked. But the men don't see that. For them it's prettier, glossier. It's a fantasy that they're building for themselves." All this was brought to mind on reading Minister Konrad Mizzi's reply to the women's organizations which are objecting to the regulation of Gentlemen's Clubs. When he denies any links to prostitution or trafficking, what he is saying is that these glossy, fancy clubs should be taken at face value, where scantily-clad attractive girls dance and gyrate in front of men, and it all ends there. But, as the Malta Confederation The challenge now is for Malta to ensure that it does not fall into the trap of complacency following the hype that came along with the hosting of the EU Presidency The Presidency has come to an end, but it isn't yet over Frank Psaila