The EU Summit; behind the scenes

Good evening.


I had to travel with my brother for medical reasons and got first hand experience what fighting for your country really means. Obviously I mean trying to get every single financial benefit from a future EU budget 2014-2020 and not literally "fighting".  If anyone thinks that by watching TV news or reading newspaper report one knows the whole story, well you are pretty mistaken. The shear effort required from these human beings is tremendous .

 

The whole thing starts on the aeroplane. Lawrence is given sheets of paper and a brainstorming session is held lasting the whole flight, interrupted by a lemon tea. On arrival at the airport, straight to the Commission Building and up to the Malta room. An important bilateral meeting is to be held with Barroso and Von Rompuy on Malta's position. In the room we are met with a number of brilliant people some of them are called "number crunchers". They analyse every possible aspect of EU financial legislation, what are the other EU countries' bargaining chip, what should be Malta's position  and answers to every possible scenario. What can be done to get all of Malta's financial allocation and more, being an island, a region in itself, being in the southern border, having an immigration problem. All this is tackled with utmost zeal and dedication to a cause.  Numbers fly around continuously -not millions but billions- and meanwhile Lawrence is absorbing all of this.  He has to present this in a few hours time and he has approximately 10 minutes to do so. He is tense but determined. Time's up.  Off he goes and comes out with a smile.  

 

Time now is 2.30 in the afternoon. Off for a quick lunch followed by a quick shower and at 5 pm he is back at the Commission Building and Malta room.  Now comes the big one.  All heads of state meet together. There's no direct access to advisers. This was scheduled for 9 pm but was rescheduled later since bilateral meetings with all head of states was still being done.  This next meeting is crucial, big states which are huge contributors to the EU budget want cuts; Malta wants its rightful share.  Lawrence has to present a solid argument.  The 'number crunchers' shoot out detail and reasoning both from our point of view but also from other countries' perspective.  He is well prepared and goes out of the meeting in good spirits but tired.  Fortunately during this meeting it was decided that a second meeting was to be held the next day at noon. It is 1.30 am.

 

The breakfast at 9am in the hotel was not a normal one. It is a round table conference with all the advisers. Again everyon was shooting figures related to Malta's position; with every possible aspect related to the social, economic, political life of the Maltese population being divulged.  Malta needs to continue with its economic growth and every euro attained with this crucial exercise will ascertain this. This "breakfast "lasts till 11.30am. After that it's off to Commision building and Malta's room.  Last minute details are ironed out. At noon Lawrence heads towards the meeting area. He is calm but determined.

 

As expected the Summit ends up with no definite conclusion but with a gut feeling that a solution could be in sight. The UK want a 30 billion cut in the budget. According to our advisers this is not insurmountable but we have to wait a few weeks. Meanwhile the Commision will have more bilateral talks with all EU states. With regards to Malta we are not only guaranteed the 'basic package' but we have achieved more, and we will argue for more. The problem is that there IS an agreement but it's still not a formal one.

 

Thanks to all involved. You have made us proud. Pity we hear the end result and not the weeks and months of negotiations, meetings, and discussions involved in all this. I cannot imagine Muscat and his present entourage coping with all of this.

 

Michael