Constitutional developments in the MENA region during Malta’s EU presidency

Abstract

Since the beginning of the Arab uprisings, the European Union has supported the constitutional reform processes taking place in the MENA region, thus following the strategy provided for by Article 3(5) of the Treaty of the European Union, which stipulates that the EU “shall uphold and promote its values and interests” in “its relations with the wider world”. This support to the democratic transitions in North Africa and the Middle East continued during the semester of the Maltese presidency of the Council of the European Union, i.e. from January 1st to June 30th 2017. Indeed, the priorities of the Maltese presidency for the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood included “ensuring that the democratic transition in Tunisia remains on track”, “the stabilisation of Libya through a peaceful transition”, and “contributing to the EU and international efforts to address the Syrian conflict”. As will be discussed in this short paper, the semester of the Maltese presidency (and the days which immediately followed that period) saw significant constitutional developments in all these three countries. In Tunisia some important organic laws implementing the 2014 Constitution were adopted, in Libya the Constitutional Drafting Assembly approved a new draft Constitution, and in Syria the Russian Government presented its draft proposal for a new Syrian Constitution.