Malta is finding it extremely difficult to place its officials in “meaningful positions” in the EU’s new foreign service.

Dissatisfied with EU’s Foreign Service

Despite ongoing recruitment initiatives by Brussels over the past year, few Maltese applicants managed to make it to the shortlist stage of the European External Action Service (EEAS).

So far, only three Maltese officials have been offered jobs in its many representation offices around the world.

The highest ranking post given to a Maltese citizen so far is that of Deputy Head of Mission at the EU’s office in Jerusalem, while two other officials were recently given political and policy responsibilities in the EU’s representations in the Philippines and in New York, which serves the United Nations.

However, many other Maltese applicants have been left by the wayside with officials from other EU member states, including some other smaller countries, given the nod.

Most of the Head of Mission posts have so far been occupied by ­citizens of the large members although officials from Luxembourg and the Baltic states have also managed to secure some of these positions.

A spokesman for the government said although the recruitment is still in its initial phase, “Malta is still not happy with the way things are going”.

During the discussions over the creation of the EEAS, Malta always insisted on “meaningful representation” for small member states.

EEAS head, High Representative Catherine Ashton, has ruled out the possibility of setting minimum thresholds indicating how many places each member state should obtain in the new service. Instead, she is insisting on recruiting “the best and most qualified” for the job, irrespective of nationality.

However, one Maltese diplomat said: “It’s not how much you know and what experience you have but who you know and where.”

“Malta had some excellent candidates so far who were not even shortlisted as others had better connections at the top,” he claimed.

Another diplomat complained about the level of lobbying from Malta. “We are not aggressive enough in our lobbying and sometimes applicants are left alone. Other countries, including the large ones, have people working round the clock to make sure their candidates are chosen. Even foreign ministers and commissioners get involved personally to push the candidates from their countries,” he said.

“Unfortunately this is not the case in Malta as our candidates are often left to their own devices. There is minimal help,” another diplomat said.

Even before the EEAS was launched, EU diplomats had indicated a “long and uphill struggle” for Malta to get personnel in high places.

Already disadvantaged by its size and few players at the EU’s top posts, Malta was also the least represented member state in the former Commission’s external services department (DG Relex) – the main recruitment ground of the new service.

According to a study by the European Parliament, Malta should have had nine officials in the department by mid-2010 and instead only had one junior official.

Instead, DG Relex was dominated by a heavy presence of officials from the ‘old’ member states, particularly France, UK, Germany, Spain and Italy which incidentally also were the most successful when the new EEAS jobs came up.