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| Dionis Cenuşa | |
In January 2017, Malta takes over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union through which the national governments of the Member States set the EU actions and supervise the legislative process in the EU. The Maltese priorities for the Presidency include pressing issues for the region such as migration, problem of asylum seekers and the maritime one. Malta also intends to discuss solutions for the southern neighborhood, which is the main source of migration flows. Together with this, Valetta will introduce the Eastern dimension of the European border, focused especially on Ukraine, in the Presidency’s agenda.
Before Malta, the Netherlands and Slovakia shared the Presidency in the course of 2016. According to the European practice, the rotating presidencies of the EU are prepared by three Member States that agree upon a common agenda for 18 months. The troika consisting of the Netherlands, Slovakia and Malta ensured that the EU’s foreign agenda during their presidencies is rather balanced. Anyway, a larger part of the attention of the rotating presidency was consumed by the constant instability to the south of the Mediterranean Sea Basin. The failure of political regimes, insecurity and armed conflicts in Northern Africa and Near East caused the refugee crisis that, simultaneously, increased the wave of migrants to Europe.
However, the Eastern neighborhood remained one of the priorities, mainly owing to Russia’s actions against the territorial integrity of Ukraine and because the troika of the rotating presidency includes Slovakia that borders Ukraine.
Priorities of Maltese Presidency
Unlike the Slovak Presidency (IPN, July 2016), the Maltese one puts the problem of migration on top of the six priorities, followed by the European single market, security and social inclusion, Europe’s Southern neighborhood and, to a smaller extent, the Eastern neighborhood, and the maritime issue.
In the field of migration, Malta will strengthen and streamline the Common European Asylum System. Malta is among the Mediterranean destinations of asylum seekers and migrants who tend to reach the island from Northern Africa. Compared with the Netherlands and Slovakia, the Maltese authorities are really interested in distributing the migration load among Member States more fairly. Thus, until September 2017, 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy are to be accepted by the EU countries. Austria, Denmark, Hungary and Poland are the only countries that until September 2016 accepted no asylum seeker. France, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries are at the opposite pole (Euroactiv, September 2016). Malta insists on the necessity of eliminating the causes of migration by promoting durable investments in Africa and the European neighborhood.
In the area of the European single market, the objectives center on the promotion of intra-European trade, support for the small and medium-sized enterprises and mobilization of private investment for generating jobs while making smart use of scarce budgetary resources. The efforts to implement energy efficiency projects as a method of reducing costs for households will be continued. Strengthening security of energy supply for all EU citizens is also among the major objectives given the tensions between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas. These will generate risks to the energy supply to the EU, especially after the contract for the transit and supply of natural gas expires in 2019. Such a situation can appear if Russia manages to build and to put into operation the Turkish Stream gas pipeline by the end of 2019, supplemented also by Nord Stream II.
Security is also among the priorities, with emphasis on the fight against terrorism, serious and organized crime and tax crime (‘money laundering’). In order to better manage the Union’s external border, an EU system to register entry and exit of third country nationals will be established. Also, there will be created an EU Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) to determine the eligibility of all visa-exempt third country nationals, including Moldovans, to travel to the Schengen Area.
The social inclusion of vulnerable groups and minorities represents another priority file for the Maltese Presidency. Combating of gender-based violence, improving of participation of women in the labor market and protection of the rights of sexual minorities are among the priorities.
As regards Europe’s neighborhood, the Maltese Presidency will focus EU engagement on the stabilization of its neighborhood, with emphasis on the implementation of the EU Global Strategy (IPN, July 2016). In particular, Malta is interested in the EU’s Southern Neighborhood, with the stabilization of Libya that is fully uncontrolled by the central authorities of the country after the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011 being a key priority. Malta also focuses on rather diffuse files such as the dialogue between Palestine and Israel, the Syrian conflict, and the democratic transition in Tunisia. Evidently, the Maltese authorities refer to these files through the angle of diplomacy and the efforts made by the EU through the European External Action Service. Finally, the Maltese Presidency underlines that the engagement with the Eastern Neighborhood will remain important, including with respect to supporting Ukraine and ensuring cooperation with Russia on issues of global and regional concern.
International Ocean Governance will also be formally put on Malta’s agenda, with the aim of ensuring political endorsement on the way forward on a more coherent, comprehensive and effective EU policy to improve the international ocean governance framework, in line with the Blue Growth Initiative.
How is Moldova concerned?
In general, the Maltese priorities incorporate actions of European or Maltese concern. However, the Maltese Presidency addresses two major aspects related to Moldova.
Firstly, this refers to the objective of strengthening the EU security and its external border. More exactly, Malta brings back into focus the necessity of creating the EU Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), which is mandatory for visa-exempt third country nationals who travel to the Schengen Area. The launch of this system will generate particular costs that are now avoided by the holders of biometric passports in Moldova. Thus, the costs per person could be of €13, paid on each trip. The annual costs for about 400,000 Moldovans will come to approximately €5 million, as during the first year of the liberalization of the visa regime with the EU (2014-2015).
The second aspect that concerns Moldova, even if indirectly, is the Eastern neighborhood, which, for the Maltese Presidency, includes the support for Ukraine and the necessity of cooperating with Russia on issues of global and regional concern. The quality of reforms done in Ukraine can also affect Moldova, as their failure can. The bigger is the progress made by the neighboring states Romania and Ukraine, the bigger will be the external and internal pressure exerted on Moldova, which is in the middle. The ‘power of example’ in the geographical proximity can be an important catalyst for internal changes in Moldova.
The EU’s approach to Russia should remain strictly correlated with the risks posed by this country to the integrity and stability of Ukraine and the other countries of the Eastern Partnership with pro-European aspirations. Moreover, the EU should concentrate its efforts on the protection of the near and far European countries that are in the process of rapid conversion into liberal regimes friendly to Russia and tolerant of the Russian geopolitical ambitions in Europe.
Instead of conclusion
The Maltese Presidency can have moderate to minimal implications for Moldova. Certainly, the aspects concerning the future systematic surveillance of the visa-exempt third country nationals who travel to the Schengen Area or the focus on the Southern neighborhood count for Moldova and other countries in the EU’s vicinity that excessively depend on the EU.
However, the EU’s attention on Moldova is ensured by the Association Agreement and its implementation. As, the more active and predictable Moldova is in the relations with the EU, putting to good use the cooperation and financing instruments, the greater the EU’s interest will be. But this will depend, to a certain extent, on the future actions of the new President of Moldova Igor Dodon towards the EU and Russia.
IPN publishes in the Op-Ed rubric opinion pieces submitted by authors not affiliated with our editorial board. The opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily coincide with the opinions of our editorial board.