Malta is a ‘slacker’ when it comes to promoting human rights in China, according to a European Foreign Policy Scorecard 2013 compiled by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a pan-European think-tank.
Italy, Latvia, Portugal and Romania are also labelled ‘slackers’ in this area of foreign policy, while Germany and Sweden are considered ‘leaders’.
Individual countries branded leaders, slackers or supporters
Malta has traditionally enjoyed close relations with China and was the first Western European country to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China in 1972.
The scorecard examines 79 individual aspects of European foreign policy in six broad areas: relations with China, Russia, Wider Europe, Middle East/North Africa and the US, and performance in multilateral institutions and in crisis management.
The authors awarded grades for overall performance and branded individual countries leaders, slackers or supporters, depending on whether they lead or hinder Europe’s ability to achieve its interests on particular goals. Malta, for example, is listed as a supporter of enhancing Europe’s strategic dialogue with China.
Malta is also a supporter of promoting human rights in Russia, while German, the Netherlands and Sweden are leaders in this area. Malta is in favour of persuading Moscow to support EU positions on Syria, while Germany, France and the UK are leaders in this regard.
On relations with the US, Malta is a supporter of developing a joint European approach to the use of drones and of resisting US pressure and developing a joint European approach on the UN vote on Palestine. France and Germany are considered ‘leaders’ in the latter policy goal.
Malta supports pushing for visa liberalisation for Turkey while Sweden is a leader and Cyprus, France and Greece slackers.
It also supports visa liberalisation for Russia, Ukraine and Moldova while the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia are considered ‘leaders’ in this regard.
The Netherlands and Germany, on the other hand, are slackers.
The policy of increasing pressure on Iran through sanctions is supported by Malta while France, Germany and the UK are labelled leaders.
Malta is only considered a supporter of backing the political transition in Libya, and is not a leader, which is the label given to Denmark, France, Italy and the UK.
Malta is considered to be a slacker in increasing development aid to reach agreed targets, along with Austria, Greece, Italy, Romania and Spain. Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK are leaders in this area.
It is also a supporter of contributing to the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy missions, while Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Spain are considered leaders.
Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal and Romania, on the other hand, are slackers.
The scorecard points out that on foreign policy the UK remains a committed European.
Despite its apparent disengagement from Europe, the UK is still a potent member of the ‘big three’ countries that drive European foreign policy.
According to the ECFR the Franco-German axis is not so effective abroad – in foreign policy Europe tends to rely upon broad coalitions of states, rarely involving both Paris and Berlin.