Malta’s presidency and its Mediterranean role

Since the early seventies Malta has acted as a catalyst in bridge building within the Mediterranean region. For centuries, the Mediterranean Sea itself was a connecting platform that facilitated trade and communication to its surrounding states, linking f

Dr Caruana is Parliamentary Secretary for the Rights of People with Disability and Active Ageing

The Mediterranean region has for centuries maintained close people-to-people relations and through the exchange of innumerable ideas, artisanship, artefacts and trade, was transformed into a unique cosmopolitan region. Nonetheless, the economic and environmental picture of individual member states represents multiple differences and challenges on various fronts within the region.

Unfortunately, beneath the colourful picture of early civilisations, there exists a smudged reality reflecting novel or prolonged historical rifts. This includes intense military, violent and political instability, human rights violations, increased economic and educational inequality and a general stalemate in human and social development.

Parliamentary diplomacy

Following in the footsteps of my esteemed colleague, Foreign Minister George Vella, I have been active in various standing committees of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) since my first years of being elected to parliament in 2003 and led the Maltese delegation for the past four years. It was indeed a great honour that, during last week’s plenary session of the parliamentary assembly, I was elected as the Malta candidate to PAM’s Bureau, the highest diplomats when participating and actively contributing to regional and international organisations. Furthermore, we need to ensure that our political discourse, everyday actions and legislative bills enacted in our respective Parliaments are of a non-discriminatory nature and promote the full respect for diversity of opinion or creed.

The European Union, the PAM and all other international or regional organisations are fully aware of current challenges that directly or indirectly affect all countries. Global threats necessitate global response, which can only be effective through the input and support of individual states. The current violent extremism, exported from outside the region, but also germinating in Mediterranean and European communities, constitutes a major and substantial challenge for the region.

A global and regional task

Migration and border control continue to be the leading challenges for Mediterranean and European states alike. To address the current crisis and ensure that present policy is cognisant of the long-term effects and shifts in the region, it is important to recognise that migration is a global challenge requiring global and joint solutions.

The challenge of migration also requires a multi-layered approach, one which promotes tackling root causes at the top of the agenda and injects appropriate political leverage to promote educational, economic and environmental development in struggling and impoverished states. Enhanced dialogue with host and transit countries, ensuring that partners to the dialogue recognise the benefits of a regulated and managed approach is imperative. Discussions also need to take into account that human rights standards are safeguarded irrespective of country of origin, transit or host. Malta is attaching particular importance to the topic of migration during the 2017 Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

It is important to recognise that income distribution inequalities, marginalization of certain groups; particularly young males, and abuse of power by political and religious authorities create the perfect condition for recruitment. Malta reaffirms the importance of dialogue with communities and this was at the basis of the Malta Summit for EU and African leaders in October last year. We all need to identify the underlying elements facilitating the ongoing human trafficking, which is in different ways and levels coming from war zones that lead to international terrorism. As parliamentarians, we have the tools and means to bring about change and ensure that key figures in developing states, but also within our com-