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As he ponders his political future in the same palazzo where Napoleon sojourned before invading Egypt, Foreign Minister Michael Frendo has to consider his fate in two upcoming elections: the first for the prestigious post of secretary general of the Commonwealth the second for Maltese parliament.
Michael Frendo is in an unusual dilemma. If he wins his first contest in November he will be exempt from contesting the general elections. But since he can’t count his chickens before they hatch, and with so many vultures scavenging for potential votes and canvassers, he cannot afford to show any complacency on the district level.
 But Frendo rebuts any insinuation that he is “jumping ship” as the PN faces a possible defeat, or as the race for the Sliema district gets overcrowded, retorting that he has full confidence that the PN will win the next election. He also denies speculation that he has lost hope of getting elected.
“I know that my standing in the polls is actually very good,” notes Frendo. In fact Frendo was one of the the few Ministers who saw their popularity rising in last April’s “Rate the Minister” survey conducted by MaltaToday.
In this he has found an unlikely ally in one of his own past detractors: writing on Wednesday, Alfred Sant described the above insinuations as “puerile.” Endorsing Frendo’s candidature, the Opposition leader even promising that the MLP will deploy its contacts in the socialist camp in support. But after complimenting Frendo on his credentials and vision, Sant proposed another reason why Frendo should remain in Malta rather than seeking new pastures in the commonwealth.
Noting that Frendo will have to lobby hard for support across a wide range of nations, Sant contends that this will distract him from the concentrated focus that the Foreign Minister should maintain on European affairs.
Frendo is visibly moved by Sant’s faith in his capabilities. “I appreciate Alfred Sant’s endorsement of the candidacy and my credentials. I also appreciate his faith on my ability to continue my present work as well.”
But Frendo rebuts any insinuation that his lobbying for the commonwealth post will come at the cost of his work as a Minister.
“We are doing exactly what Sant wrote. We are doing this through collaboration between the various ministries, the Foreign Ministry and the Permanent Representation. We are on top of the agenda of the EU and we work hard to keep that.”
Frendo is convinced that Malta has a chance because of the visibility it enjoyed during a “tremendously successful CHOGM meeting.” Frendo himself is currently chairing CMAG, the commonwealth’s organ on good governance, as well as the commonwealth’s steering committee on ICT.
“Should we not try to give this contribution at the highest level? I think we should. I don’t think we should be apologetic about it. We are a small state. But we have a contribution to give. Just as we have a contribution to give in the EU, we also have a contribution to give in the commonwealth. I think this is a country with enough self confidence to do this.”
He also insists that he is not distracted by the nomination: “In the past weeks I have been to Algeria, Rhodes and Libya. I am going to Tunisia. My work as foreign minister goes on. That’s my primary responsibility. But one should not downplay the fact that Malta presented its Foreign Minister as a candidate. That gives more weight to the candidature.”
Frendo has surely not lost his focus on European affairs. Three years down the line since membership, Frendo gives a positive assessment which goes beyond sheer economic figures, thus confirming his reputation as a politician who can see the bigger picture. He can still sell Europe to an increasingly sceptical public.
“The most tangible change since we joined the EU is that it released the mind of the Maltese from being too confined to our area. It has opened our mind to the fact that the whole Europe and the whole world should be our perspective.”
Membership in the European Union has also increased Malta’s relevance abroad.
“Many countries in North Africa see their friendship with us as even more important on the basis of our EU membership.”
He also expressed pride that the EU is starting to understand that Malta can make a contribution to relations between the Union and the Arab world. Malta is currently proposing a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers to discuss the wider aspects of relations with the Arab world. This will be on the agenda of the next meeting of the EU.
“This dialogue should be pre-emptive before a crisis arises. It should be ongoing and more structured than it has so far been. This is our proposal and should be extremely useful as a tool for our neighbourhood policy.”
Membership in the European Union has also contributed to greater economic investment, like the Smart City project in Ricasoli.
“Investment increased because of the efforts of the people involved. It just does not happen because we are in the EU. But being in the EU gives us an immediate endorsement that we are a safe destination for investment and gives us a sense of stability.”
As one of the pioneers of the European vision, does Frendo feel comfortable with infringement procedures against Malta?
“It’s part and parcel of being part of the EU. The duty of the Commission is to ensure that member states are in line and keep in line with regulations.”
But Frendo warns against seeing a neo-colonialist design in the EU’s procedures against Malta. “If you look at the number of infringement procedures we are somewhere in the middle of the table. So we are neither among the best nor the worst.”
But what impression are Europeans getting of Malta, when the Maltese government tries to defend hunting in spring?
“I don’t think that the impression of the EU on Malta is based on hunting. It’s much wider than that. We have a good reputation in EU for the contribution we give.”
Frendo insists that Malta is simply in the same position as Finland and France on the contentious issue of hunting. But he notes that the greatest blow to Malta’s reputation with the European Union would come if we adopted a reactive approach.
“We should be more proactive by coming with proposals on what we want in Europe. Recently we came up with the proposal of the Arab world initiative. We want to make sure that we have our agenda clear in our head before being overwhelmed by the EU’s agenda. This is a challenge we face.”
But Frendo also has misgivings on the absence of highly qualified Maltese experts in the EU’s bureaucracy.
“I would have liked the European Union to take on more Maltese at higher levels. We have people in the lower rungs of the EU bureaucracy but at directorate level we have not managed to break that glass ceiling.”
Is this the result of a negative perception on Malta in EU’s bureaucracy?
“I don’t think so. Basically the politicians are quicker to adjust to the new realities of Europe than the bureaucrats. It’s a question of getting under the skin of the bureaucracy.”
Immigration is another issue where Michael Frendo has taken a firm stand at the EU level. But the Italian government has announced its intention of relaxing the strict Bossi Fini law on illegal immigration. Is Frendo concerned that this will tempt more immigrants to cross the Mediterranean with serious repercussions on Malta?
“Every country is sovereign and the Italians have a right to change their legislation. Of course we are following what is happening in Italy because things happening in one country are bound to have an effect on other countries.”
Frendo is very clear on Malta’s position on immigration: “We should give full legal protection to people who are refugees or who have humanitarian status. But as regards economic migrants we should not accept illegality.”
He also reiterated the government’s call on UNHCR to consider Malta as a special case, and to allow countries to take in refugees from Malta within the quota allocated to them by UNHCR.
“UNHCR is saying that they can only take them outside the quota already allocated to them. We do not believe this is right because Malta is a special case. 1,200 persons per square metre is not replicable anywhere in the EU.”
As Frendo himself notes, Europe is not just about money. It is also about openness and mentality. Malta has dragged its feet on an EU proposal to harmonise divorce laws. Is Malta cut off from the rest of Europe on this issue?
Frendo insists that issues like divorce are an “internal matter.”
“We should not allow anybody to tell us what to do. Europe has no mandate on the issue of divorce. This is a prerogative of Maltese society. In this case Malta has taken a firm stand on the issue of sovereignty, and not on the issue of divorce. We cannot allow the EU to assume mandates on things over which it has no jurisdiction.”
But doesn’t the PN now risk alienating the liberal element in a coalition held together by the rallying cry of democracy in the 1980s, and Europe in the 1990s?
Frendo defines the PN as a nationalist movement.
“Nationalist movements by their own nature always contain a wide spectrum of ideas. Otherwise, they do not achieve their aims.”
Frendo insists that it is important that the PN retains the broadness of its appeal. But he acknowledges that this will be increasingly difficult as issues crop up and people take positions. “But we should remain the party of reconciling views and consensus.”
He disagrees that the PN is a confessional party.
“Even when we emphasised Christian Democracy we were not confessional, as we are a political party and not part of the Church. We are a political party in constant evolution.”
But what about people within the PN who favour divorce?
“Not even the Labour Party has taken a stand in favour of divorce. One would expect such a stand more from a Socialist group than from a member of the European popular party.”
For Frendo, then, divorce is a question of evolution. “It’s a question of how and at what rate society as a whole evolves. One should not simply look at the elite of society.”
So what’s the PN’s rallying cry, now that it claims to have accomplished the goals it had set for Malta in the 1980s and in the pre EU referendum days?
“This was clearly spelt out in the Prime Minister speech on May 1 when he set clear targets for Malta to achieve by 2015.”
According to Frendo, the PN’s vision is making Malta one of the topmost small countries in the world.
“Now we have enough self confidence to see beyond the basics, we have the basics. Now we need targets which might be more difficult to explain.”
He acknowledges that it won’t be easy to put across this vision but it’s a vision which will come through.
“People want to have the feeling of dignity and pride of being Maltese. Now we have grown up.”
So what, in a few words, is the PN’s vision? “Transforming Malta into one of the most successful small states in the world. Not just a centre for excellence, but also ensuring that Malta remains one of the safest countries in Europe where people can walk home peacefully. It’s the quality of life, not just the standard of living.”
More than a year has passed since Prime Minister Gonzi visit to the United States. Since then, Malta has allowed the United States to board Malta registered ships to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. What has Malta got in return?
“This agreement has been on the cards for three years. One of the objections I had as Foreign Minister was that initially, the Americans wanted to board Maltese registered ships on the high seas without even seeking Malta’s permission. This was not acceptable to us.”
But since the US government has given assurances of seeking permission from the Maltese government before boarding ships, the Maltese government signed the agreement.
“It is not a question of give me this in return for that. However it’s a positive movement in our relations.” He insists that the agreement includes a reference to Malta’s commitment to achieve a nuclear-free world.
Still, Malta has still not achieved an agreement on visas and double taxation, two issues raised by the Maltese government in its meeting with George Bush.
“We are working hard on the visa waiver issue. Biometric passports will be introduced soon.”
According to Frendo, the stumbling block to such an agreement are political forces in the USA who are questioning visa waiving agreement with countries already enjoying this status… let alone waiving visas for new countries.
“But there are other forces which are saying that this would be very bad for the USA. Whether this is achievable in the short term I cannot say.”
The only tangible gain so far from Malta’s engagement with the USA is help on the resettlement of refugees.
“We have achieved progress on the refugee issue. The USA has agreed to take on 200 refugees and is willing to take more in case of a crisis.”
Surprisingly for a man whose vision on European and world affairs sets him apart from other local politicians, Michael Frendo has now set his sights on leading an organisation viewed by many as an anachronistic relic of British colonialism.
“The commonwealth engages a lot of soft diplomacy, and does so very quietly and effectively,” he says, dismissing the idea that the commonwealth is nothing but a talking shop… as well he might, considering that he already serves as Chairman of the Commonwealth Ministers’ Action Group on the Harare Declaration (CMAG).
“I know how closely the press in countries on the CMAG agenda follow what is said by CMAG. When CMAG suspended Fiji from the council of the commonwealth after the coup d’etat, it hit the world headlines. If the commonwealth is irrelevant, why was the world press so interested?”
But Frendo is a strong exponent of soft rather than hard diplomacy. “There are difficulties in governance and some countries go through difficult periods.”
He cites the issue of “good governance” – a euphemism for setting one’s house in order in countries ravaged by corruption. In dealing with countries deviating from standards of good governance, the commonwealth should never forget that it is a group of equally sovereign states.
“They are together because they want to be together. They created CMAG as an assessment of the peers. We have to act as peers. We cannot act in a way that does not take in consideration their circumstances.”
Frendo insists that if elected to the post he would not act like a primadonna.
“The commonwealth needs to be driven by the heads of government. Its success depends on being driven in CHOGM, and the secretary general should simply execute the mandate of the heads of government.”
But he sees an important role for the commonwealth general secretary in issues related to development where members can share their experiences as centers of excellence in different fields.
“The work of a secretary general of the Commonwealth is essentially a development role. If we do not understand the commonwealth as a development organisation both in terms of governance and economic and social development, we would be losing the soul of what the commonwealth is all about.”
So why should the commonwealth countries elect Frendo as their secretary general? “As a small state Malta understands the sensitivity of both large states and other small state, of which there is a multitude in the commonwealth. Larger states feel more comfortable with a small state which is mainly interested in promoting dialogue.” |
