In this article Dr Borg focuses on the future of the EU. He delved into those areas identified by the European Commission, where further development is solicited or should be sought or where specific targets need to be attained. While doing so he touched on what Malta’s position may be in all this.
This is the first of three articles on the path ahead, taken from a talk at “Il-Ħaġar”, Gozo on May 3.
You might also like Dr Borg’s reminder of the path to membership and what we have made of it.
Dr Borg started by asking whetherthe future of the EU is at risk with the rise of the far right, the strong resurgence of political extremism, the increase in Europhobia and the UK’s exit?
He said that, if the far right foment fear and hatred of the EU; If political extremism becomes even stronger and gains the upper hand; if Europhobia makes further inroads; If the UK exit were not to remain a one off; there will be a real risk that the EU will break up or become irrelevant or worse still disintegrate or disappear completely.
Then he asked: is there still need for the EU or enough time has passed since World War II that we now believe each European country can make it on its own?
From a political perspective with the USA no longer involving itself militarily as much as it used to in the past in European security and defence, or involving itself at all especially in light of the position adopted by the Trump Administration; with the resurgence of Russia militarily, the aggression on Ukraine perpetrated by Putin, and with all the unrest in our neighbourhood a strong united Europe is needed rather than a disjointed one.
From an economic perspective the larger the single market the stronger will be our economies. With the expansion of the Chinese and the Indian economies a dismembered European Union will become less competitive on the world front and it goes without saying that the economy of each single EU Member State will suffer.
Dr Borg then questioned whether the EU can evolve any further or has it gone as far as it had to go and so whether there should be further deepening and strengthening of the EU and further widening and enlargement. On this he said that if the EU is a reality that we in Europe cannot really do without than it must keep moving forward, for it not to stall and not to start progressively falling back.
Before going into the EU’s position on its priorities with a view to becoming stronger, with a view to deepening he touched upon the question of widening, of the future enlargement of the EU which, he said, can be kept being postponed.
There are currently ten states knocking at the EU’s door – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, with most of which negotiations have already begun. With Turkey, however, negotiations are at a standstill since 2018 (due to reservations regarding certain Erdogan government policies and some other considerations). The same goes for Georgia where the accession process has been de facto halted since last year because of the course of action taken by the Georgian government since Spring of 2024. With Kosovo there is a major issue as it is not yet officially recognised by five Member States (Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain, apart from two applicants – Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina). This enlargement would mean another 153 million (of which 86 million hail from Turkey on its own) added to the 450 million existing population of the 27 Member States.
Progress in negotiations with the applicants is at a slow pace so farpartly because of a lack of willingness until now on the part of the EU to widen further and partly also because of problems that the applicants need to first resolve especially on the democracy and the rule of law fronts. It appears, however, that the pace will pick up considerably during this Commission / European Parliament term.
Dr Borg then began considering the priority areas identified by the European Commission and put forward in July of last year for the 2024 – 2029 mandate. These seven priorities built on the European Council’s Strategic Agenda adopted the month before and on the different discussions with the political groups of the European Parliament. The seven priorities are:
- A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness;
- A new era for European Defence and Security;
- Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model;
- Sustaining our quality of life: Food security, water and nature;
- Protecting our democracy, upholding our values;
- A global Europe: Leveraging our power and partnerships; and
- Delivering together and preparing our Union for the future.
Dr Borg first dealt briefly with the first (competitiveness), the third (European social fairness), the fourth (quality of life), the sixth (Global Europe) and the EU Budget under the seventh.
On competitiveness he said that this entails a new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness. The Commission highlights, in particular,
- the deepening of the single market
- decarbonisation and the bringing down of energy prices;
- the boosting of productivity, the diffusion of digital technology; and leadership in AI.
Regarding European Social Fairness he said that this means supporting people, strengthening our societies and the European social model– by ensuring social fairness and bringing about a Union of Equality.
Under the Quality of Life the European Commission stresses the need for sustaining Europe’s quality of life by guaranteeing food and water security and safeguarding nature – with the stress on (1) a resilient agriculture and food system; and (2) climate adaptation and helping those affected by climate change.
On a Global Europe the focus is on leveraging our power and partnership for a global Europe.
Europe’s Foreign and Security Policy should focus:
– on enlargement as a geopolitical necessity;
– on strengthening Europe’s strategic approach to our neighbourhood; and
– on forging a new economic foreign policy through competitiveness, fair trade and partnerships.
And lastly on the EU Budget, the European Commission stresses on delivering together and preparing the Union for the future with a new budget aligned with the EU’s strategic interests.
The speaker then said that in so far as these priorities are concerned Malta can, by and large, only gain as it has been doing over the last twenty years since Membership.
But, he underlined, good governance, proper planning ahead, effective implementation and strong enforcement must be the rules of the game.
Besides, there may be specific issues where these priorities are translated into specific actions and initiatives that can possibly hurt us. It goes without saying that we should keep a constant look out for such and that we should not accept everything blindfolded but we should identify them at an early stage and request tailormade adaptations, exemptions or special considerations to suit our own needs and realities, and to address our concerns. The areas of financial services and shipping immediately come to mind, he said.
