Joanna Throughout the psychologically draining struggle to get Malta into the EU, one factor was both glaringly obvious and frustrating. If Malta did get into the EU by the skin of its reluctant teeth, most of the vicious opponents to Malta’s accession would in no time at all start to personally feel the benefits of Malta’s membership. If, on the other hand, Malta had opted to go down the frozen road of splendid isolation, nobody at all (apart from the hard-core loyalists) would have benefited from that decision. The rest, as they say, is history. Few people would contest the fact that the benefits of EU membership have been spread out nicely across the board and that, perhaps, is the most tangible proof that staying out in the cold would have been a real tragedy. It’s perhaps not entirely unjust that the guys who did their best to keep us out in the cold are reminded of their serious error of judgement (or was it simply an act of self-preservation?) back then. In this context, Joanna Drake’s appointment as the first Maltese Director in the European Commission is good news. Joanna was there when the going was tough, she passionately believes in the European cause and, importantly, knows what she’s talking about when she discusses European affairs. Significantly, she avoided the temptation of attracting sympathy by playing the easy card of populist politics. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that Joanna’s route to the top has been less political and more meritocratic in nature. Does this demonstrate the limits of participative democracy? Maybe it does.
Joseph The uncontested winner of the Labour Party’s Big European Gamble has no doubt been the current leader of that party who really struck the jackpot with his exquisitely pragmatic approach to the political game. And, being a bit of a idealist myself, that is precisely why I can’t take Joseph too seriously. Pragmatism is all well and good – to an extent – but it shouldn’t become a politician’s greatest asset. Joseph is a master pragmatist – no doubt about that – and the man should be given kudos for making it so big so early on in life. The problem is that any talk of progressives, moderates and national movements appear to be completely overshadowed by the giant P-R-A-G-M-A-T-I-S-T sign hanging over his head. Having said that, pragmatism has always seemed to me to be the unspoken traditional ‘value’ which makes Malta tick as a nation.
Tony A lack of pragmatism (you may also choose to call it ‘hints of idealism’), on the other hand, might be the factor that sinks Tony Blair’s hopes of becoming Europe’s first permanent President of the European Council. There’s hardly any doubt that Blair would give Europe the prestige and presence which it sorely lacks on the world stage. As Timothy Garton Ash put it rather cruelly in an article published this week, “On balance, therefore, the cons of a Blair candidacy outweigh the pros. Yet it would be a disaster to go to the other extreme and appoint someone like Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg. David Miliband’s image of a President Blair ‘stopping the traffic’ when he visits Washington or Beijing may not have been the most felicitous way to press his old boss’s case, but a visiting president Juncker would not even stop a runaway shopping trolley.”
It is generally agreed that Tony Blair is the only politician who would give the European Union the international stature which supporters of the Lisbon Treaty desperately desire. Pragmatically, Europe should forget the past and ‘move on’ as the simplistic saying would have us do. It seems, however, that past political choices do actually count for something elsewhere: Mr Blair’s unequivocal decision over Iraq – which had ripped Europe in two – is threatening to torpedo his chances of becoming Europe’s voice in the world.
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In this context, Joanna Drake’s appointment as the first Maltese Director in the European Commission is good news. Joanna was there when the going was tough, she passionately believes in the European cause and, importantly, knows what she’s talking about when she discusses European affairs. Significantly, she avoided the temptation of attracting sympathy by playing the easy card of populist politics. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that Joanna’s route to the top has been less political and more meritocratic in nature. Does this demonstrate the limits of participative democracy? Maybe it does.
