EU veteran Peter Agius on Malta’s first EU Presidency

After assisting on 10 separate EU Council Presidencies, leading the European Parliament office in Malta and now a member of EP President Antonio Tajani’s Cabinet, EU veteran PETER AGIUS sat down with Helena Grech from The Malta Independent in order to giv

This was a no-nonsense Presidency.

Stressing how when it comes to Malta there is never a dull moment, Agius speaks of the unprecedented move by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat when he called a snap election in the penultimate month of Malta’s Presidency, and how thanks to a combination of skill and trust, this did not cause any major disruptions.

Agius managed to find time to speak with this newspaper between moving house, handling work duties in both Belgium and Strasbourg and assisting his wife in caring for their children.

Having worked in various EU roles for so long, and having assisted in 10 separate EU Council Presidencies while other member states took their turn at the position, Agius has some unique and in-depth insights on how Malta fared and what the feel around the EU was.

The Presidency was successful in that it concluded 24 dossiers on different policy areas, and some of the decisions taken throughout the six-month long stint are ones that actually have an effect on the day-to-day lives of the consumer.

Turning slightly technical, he proudly explained conclusions from one particular dossier related to high speed internet broadband.

Agius said that while technologies are available in this day and age most consumers in Europe are not able to make use of them because of cluttered and slow internet broadband.

Asked to elaborate on this, he explained that technology is allowing us to do fantastic things such as checking what’s in the fridge, making a grocery order online and having it delivered through the front door all electronically. He also referred to apps that allow the user to regulate the temperature of their home before actually entering the house.

While the technology is there, a lack of legislation stopping from communications companies from cluttering high-speed broadband has prevented workers from doing so.

Agius said that the Maltese Presidency delivered a strong contribution to the provision of high speed internet to its consumers.

He explained that the Maltese Presidency delivered a strong contribution to the provision of high speed internet that has so far been hindered by clutter.

“With the decision that took place during the Maltese Presidency, this is very important. Unfortunately these big decisions for the consumer are not considered many times, because of the energy wasted on high level debate, leading to a draining of resources.”

He stressed that it these concrete actions is what the people voted for, free movement of goods and services in a way that improves day-to-day lives.

“A space of freedom and opportunity, this is what Europe stands for”.

In fact, the Maltese Presidency, to its credit, worked tirelessly and with determination on closing off several technical dossiers, Agius said.

“This is something the every Presidency tries to achieve, but a combination of factors such as hard work, highly trained people and the fact that Malta’s term was between January and June rather than July to December really helped a lot of work to get done.

“The Maltese Presidency was well prepared - there was a whole year dedicated to training and learning. The people who were involved knew they were going to be for a long time, therefore it was ensured that these people would be as prepared as possible.”

Agius stressed that Malta has been observing other countries leading the Council Presidency since it joined in 2004. The Presidency was a culmination of Malta’s many years of membership in the EU.

“The Maltese Presidency saw the European Parliament elect a new President, and all institutions were working in full swing.”

He explained that the EP was a great friend and worked very closely with the Maltese Presidency to push its agenda.

It was a ‘no nonsense Presidency’, he said.

“Technical experts were assigned to dossiers which really helped things along. Obviously the politicians were essential in tackling issues of a certain nature, and the experts tackled the tech-

Other important regulations were concluded, such as on the rights of the consumer.

nical issues that deal with how an issue is going to work in day-today practice.”

Turning to the snap election, announced by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on 1 May for 3 June, Agius said that it came at the worst possible time for the EU Presidency.

“Despite Maltese politicians turning to campaigning in the busiest time for the Presidency, the momentum was not disrupted in any way which is an impressive feat.

“The most pivotal time of the Presidency came six weeks before it ended in June, roughly around the time when election campaigning in Malta was in full swing,” he said.

“It is the last month and a half where you seal the deal with many policy areas on the agenda.

“Thanks to the strong foundations leading the Maltese Presidency, it was not disturbed by the election. This is the political reality.

“Calling the election during the Presidency was an unprecedented and surprising move, but at the end of the day it did not disturb the momentum and flow of things.”

From an outsider’s perspective, it is surprising to hear that the EP worked well with Joseph Muscat’s government. Asked how the EP could be so critical of Malta in one breath, and then work so closely with it, Agius said:

“The EP is very critical of Malta with regards certain sectors and the behaviour of the government in certain areas. It believes in greater scrutiny but we cannot forget that the MEPs are directly elected by their constituents back home.

“What do these MEPs want for their constituents? They want high speed internet broadband, and for the EU to keep itself updated on changing needs in society. MEPs know that their constituents want an EU with stronger borders, and better security, something improved upon during the Maltese Presidency thanks to a dossier that has been concluded.

“Other important regulations were concluded, such as on the rights of the consumer – harmonization on rights across the EU which created difficulties for cross border online shopping in particular.

“The MEPs might be sceptical of a country’s government, but they would not put their citizens’ expectations and needs in jeopardy because of that. This is why we have seen a close relationship during the presidency between the EP and the Maltese Government. Both sides deserve credit.

“We are speaking of 24 concluded laws, directives and regulations during Malta’s presidency.”

“While the Presidency exceeded expectations in many policy areas, there are other sectors that were expected to do much better than they did.

“The area of immigration for example, which was the top priority for the Maltese Presidency, was not that much of a success.

“To be fair, this isn’t down to the Maltese Presidency as such, because it pushed from the start, but it could not figure out how to get certain countries such as Hungary and Poland to accept burden sharing, so the latter kept blocking legislation from getting passed through the EU.”

Agius said, “there is a feeling of having lost an opportunity, but to be honest what happened is that there were such big expectations in this area since Malta has been at the front lines of the this immigration issue, there was the expectation that there would be an unblocking of the situation.”

Beyond immigration, Agius said a really powerful force for the Maltese Presidency was the cooperation between EU institutions.

“All the actors cooperated, and this stands to the credit to the Presidency as it had really created a feeling of good will between all the institutions.

“I have been assisting on 10 different presidencies within the council. The attitude, that they were not arrogant and listened to concerns, was a huge positive. The drive is also an extremely important factor. Everybody involved were eager to succeed for the country.

“The fact that it was our first Presidency really helped the motivation and drive. Those involved wanted to make their country proud and I think they did a very good job.

“The Maltese Presidency was good, like many others, it was not arrogant and worked with humility. This was something to take note of. Being the smallest member state around that Council table, you are extremely aware of being ignored for being a small nation. Nobody wants to breathe an attitude where the smallest members are disregarded, and being the smallest state really helped in this regard because the Presidency was sensitive to certain issues.”

Asked about the feel around the EU when the snap election was called while the Maltese Presidency was in full swing, Agius said: “Those who had negotiations and meetings scheduled got a huge fright. To be fair many of the fears were unfounded because as I said previously momentum carried on as usual despite the election.

“There was a huge effort for their not to be any disruptions, which was only possible through the trust between the political and administrative teams. Without the trust this would not have been possible.”