The Maltese in Luxembourg

Last Tuesday, September 21, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Malta's Independence, I was very happy to host a reception for the small but rapidly growing Maltese community in Luxembourg, which was reported in The Times the following day.

Of course there have been a number of Maltese working and living in Luxembourg for many years, as one does find in the major cities in Europe and elsewhere.

During last Tuesday's reception, I was quite pleased to meet again, after a gap of several years, a very dear, old friend of mine who has been working in Luxembourg for many years, and who now occupies a senior post at Eurocontrol, the pan-European organisation that co-ordinates air-traffic control within all of Europe and parts of the Mediterranean.

Two other expatriates, who also work at Eurocontrol, attended the reception as well, as did others who work in the financial and banking sector in Luxembourg, some of whom occupy very senior positions.

However, it is a fact that the Maltese community in Luxembourg has expanded primarily as a direct result of Malta's accession into the European Union, last May, and the consequent intake of Maltese nationals by the various EU institutions and agencies.

There is a widespread tendency to equate the EU with Brussels, but effectively a very relevant number of EU bodies are actually based in Luxembourg. In addition to the Court of Auditors (where, I am now based), the much larger Court of Justice, the European Investment Bank, Eurostat, the EU Publications Office and others are also based in Luxembourg.

In addition, the three principal Institutions of the EU, namely Parliament, the Council and the Commission, all have sizeable offices in Luxembourg.

All those who attended the Luxembourg reception appreciated the opportunity to meet their fellow compatriots. And, I think that I can state with all confidence that they appreciated, even more, the fact that they were able to do so in the context of an activity, which was held within the premises of one of the EU Institutions, and purposely organised to coincide with one of Malta's national festivities, in this case the achievement of our independence, 40 years ago.

Even after just five months since Malta's EU accession, it is already very clear that the fears, that EU membership would 'drown' the Maltese national identity, were totally unfounded. In fact, I would even say that EU membership has actually strengthened our identity as Maltese and our pride in our nation.

In the span of my career, I have lived for several years in both Canada and Australia, which have both received a large number of Maltese migrants. In those countries, it is typical for the Maltese community to meet and to frequent each other, and there is a conscious effort to rekindle and keep alive memories of Malta in various ways.

However, in most cases, this wish to 'remain' Maltese is severely constrained by the overriding preoccupation to be assimilated as Canadians or Australians. Such a situation is not replicated within the EU context, where we enjoy the right to call ourselves both Maltese nationals and EU citizens.

As a consequence of Malta's accession into the EU, it can be said that we are able to enjoy the benefits of being citizens of the EU specifically because of our Maltese nationality. It is a situation where one reinforces the other. No conflict but convergence.

This is something that is particularly self-evident to those who like me are working within one of the EU institutions or agencies. If we can today project ourselves as European citizens, on a par with the many other fellow Europeans that we meet daily in our work and who come from the other 24 member states, it is because we are Maltese and we do so specifically as Maltese.

According to our latest count, there are currently 36 Maltese people working within the above-mentioned EU bodies in Luxembourg (12 at the Court of Justice; 11 at the Commission; six in Parliament; six at the Court of Auditors and one in another entity). At the moment, it is not an exaggeration to say that their number is increasing practically on a daily basis.

The above numbers include the two judges, as well as myself, the three of us having been nominated by the Maltese Government and subsequently appointed by the Council. In my case, after consultation with the European Parliament.

The others have all been employed directly by their respective institutions or agencies, some on an indefinite employment contract and others on a temporary basis.

All fall under the provisions of the 'statute', updated last May, which specifies employment conditions within all EU bodies, although some flexibility is allowed in the way that the individual institutions or agencies implement these provisions.

In these first months since accession, the most sizeable intake of Maltese nationals has been in the translation field. Out of the 36 persons that I mentioned above, almost 30 of them are working as translators; four of them at the Court of Auditors and the rest spread among the other bodies with the largest contingents to be found within the Commission and the Court of Justice.

In this last mentioned institution, there exists the specific designation of jurist-linguist, the name itself implying the required combination of legal knowledge and linguistic skills. The translation unit within the Court of Justice will eventually have a complement of about 25 personnel and a Maltese national has already been appointed as the head of this unit.

In the case of the Court of Auditors, where the number of Maltese translators is not expected to grow significantly larger than the current complement, the Maltese translation unit has been twinned with the Swedish unit, who are helping their newly recruited Maltese colleagues to settle down in their new jobs and environment.

As can be readily seen from this particular example, different institutions and agencies adopt different approaches to the practical exigencies of implementing those structures required to carry out their respective duties.

In addition to the above-mentioned vacancies for translators, all of the EU institutions and agencies are also currently in the process of recruiting additional managerial, administrative and technical staff to cope with their increased workload as a result of enlargement.

Some of these vacancies have been specifically earmarked to be filled by applicants from the new member states, including a number of posts at director or even director-general level.

At the same time, Maltese nationals are also already eligible to apply under the normal recruitment procedures, which are generally those applied by EPSO (European Communities Personnel Selection Office) on behalf of all the institutions and agencies and, which normally take the form of open-competitions involving various stages of selection.

However, it is still possible, and in fact common, for individual EU bodies to advertise directly vacancies for temporary posts. The Management and Personnel Office within the Office of the Prime Minister has been entrusted with the task of serving as the contact point in Malta for recruitment within the EU institutions and agencies. Some of the relevant information can be accessed directly from the Malta government Website.