Baptism of fire for PM

It is a pity the Maltese government does not seem to have prepared the country to what’s coming. We as a country are starved of proper information.

Prime Minister Robert Abela faces a huge test when he today begins attending his first European Council.

He has yet to meet the other European leaders as he has only managed a brief, fleeting visit to Brussels to meet the top EU officials. The other leaders are unknown to him as he is unknown to them. Furthermore, he has no past experience in international relations to fall back on.

Besides, this promises to be a very difficult summit indeed. It is already being billed as a ‘fourshirt summit’ meaning that the EU leaders are preparing themselves for a long and contentious summit, maybe lasting until Sunday.

This happens every time the leaders talk about money, the EU’s budget, but it will be all the more difficult this time since the EU will have to do without the huge UK contribution. Also, there are increased demands for a bigger EU budget and increased expenditure in almost all areas. It will be next to impossible to square the circle.

The summit aims to reach an agreement on the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework, the Union’s budget for the period 2021-2027. At present, a number of member states demand further cuts to the proposed budget.

Additional cuts would curtail the EU’s ability to act globally and to build a sustainable longterm partnership with the

African continent.

We in Malta are mostly unprepared for what’s coming because all we seem to read about are local issues especially on corruption and the aftermath of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination or the internal politics inside the PN. As we shall see, some issues may get a wider and unexpected hearing at the summit.

In the past months, the Member States have been having many meetings in preparation for the summit. At the end, they tended to fall into two different groups – those who contribute to EU funds and those who get EU funds.

It is a pity the Maltese government does not seem to have prepared the country to what’s coming. We as a country are starved of proper information. Such as, for example: are we net contributors or net receivers? We know that up to some years ago we were net receivers but since then Malta’s economy has greatly improved and besides the EU took in new members which are far poorer than Malta. Thus Malta’s average rose and rose. We should have become net contributors but the last time the funding decision for the next seven years came round, we still got extra funds to continue to improve our economy. It is also a mistake to have stopped the practice of having Maltese media reporters accompany the PM.

Anyway, as The Financial

Times reported yesterday, the richest countries are digging in their heels. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that talks to set the European Union's budget for the coming seven years will be "very difficult" at the extraordinary summit beginning today.

Germany and other mainly northern European EU members that pay more into the EU budget than they get out, are known as "net contributors".

Such countries are keen to cap spending at around one percent of the bloc's total GDP, while the European parliament has demanded 1.3 percent.

Brussels is keen to set new priorities in climate change and other areas, even as Brexit has punched a multi-billion-hole in EU finances.

"Even if we remain at the same level (of contributions), namely one percent of GDP, that would mean Germany would pay €10 billion more per year because of inflation and Brexit," Merkel said.

"If further burdens are loaded on top, you can see it's significant, then we'll have to see whether it's divided fairly among the net contributors."

France and around 15 other member states are keen to end a system of rebates for five countries – Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden – that has been weakened by Britain's withdrawal. These 16 including Malta are known as the Friends of Cohesion (while an EU wag characterised them as Friends of Corruption).

Prime Minister Abela, in a recent remark, seemed to put Malta getting its share of Cohesion Funds as a ‘red line’.

Meanwhile, according to EUObserver yesterday, EU plans to link some budget funds to respect for the rule of law will be part of the grand bargain at the EU leaders' negotiations.

It is one of the key issues dividing member states in a budget haggle that has been described by EU officials as the most divisive in decades.

The coming days will be crucial for the EU and also crucial for Malta.