Malta's EU Presidency : a study in a small state presidency of the Council of the EU

Abstract

Malta assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU in January 2017 with a list of priorities ranging from migration to social inclusion, security to the single market. In addition to the challenge the Presidency represents for any Member State, small states are particularly ‘stretched’ in meeting the myriad commitments the presidency involves. Therefore, from the outset, Malta’s Presidency represented a challenge for the Government and Public Service. In addition, Malta was also faced with several ‘external’ challenges beyond its control but which had the potential to complicate its task at the helm of the Council, including elections in key member states, the formal launch of the BREXIT process and the inauguration of the Trump administration in America; as Malta entered 2017 it truly found itself in the proverbial ‘eye of the storm’. After completing its Presidency the consensus in Malta and abroad was that the EU’s smallest state had scored highly in delivering on its priorities and that it had been a success. This book represents the first academic assessment of the Presidency and reflects the Institute for European Studies’ commitment to contributing to the body of academic knowledge on Malta and the European Union.