2 - 8 December 1999

More consultations needed over EU bid - Malta Business Bureau in Brussels

by Anthony Manduca

The director of the Malta Business Bureau in Brussels, Leonard Mizzi, has said that the government needs to consult more with the business community over the country's European Union bid.

Writing in today's The Malta Business Weekly, Dr Mizzi, who represents the Federation of Industry and the Chamber of Commerce in Brussels, says: "Now that the bilateral screening process is practically completed, it is important to take stock of the situation. Yes, there was a degree of consultation with the interested parties in all chapters but there is clearly scope for considerable enhancement of the analysis and approach of interaction."

Dr Mizzi also says that more impact assessments were needed so that the business sector would be in a better position to prepare for EU membership.

He says: "For quite some time, we insisted on detailed impact assessments prior to arriving at a pre- negotiating position - at horizontal and micro level. We have already heard that government is oriented to request transition periods in various sectors, including ship-repair and shipbuilding, free movement of goods, environment, agriculture, and others. It is only at negotiating level that we would know whether such transition periods will be secured or not."

He adds: "Deciding on a transition period needs to be based on concrete data (and impact assessments). The business community cannot be expected to carry out impact assessments at horizontal (for example environment and agriculture) and/or micro enterprise level, especially in the case of SMEs employing less than 50 employees."

Dr Mizzi says that if need be, foreign expertise needs to be bought in to help. "The government in collaboration with the business community and the trade unions should jointly prepare terms of reference and have immediate access to the overall results. It is only at that stage that we can argue for/against transition periods but certainly not beforehand," he says.

Dr Mizzi says that the launch of accession negotiations calls for a more planned interaction between the government and the social partners.

"While the drive for EU membership is largely political, the practical implications of the commitments made during the screening exercise and finally during the negotiations themselves have clear socio- economic repercussions down to the level of the individual firm. All actors and players need to be actively involved in the process beyond simple consultation," he says.

He adds: "Mobilising the support of a large proportion of the business community in the negotiations stage - the probable timeframe being mid-2000 until end 2002/early 2003 - will inject the necessary fuel for the political process."

Dr Mizzi says that he understands that the negotiating process is the responsibility of the administration, but "at the same time government has to recognise that the impact of harmonisation of the acquis will be felt on the economic actors first and these are already being felt".