Jean-Claude Juncker (right) and Martin Schulz pose for the media before a live television discussion at the capital studios of the German ZDF station in Berlin last Thursday. Photo: Reuters/Markus Schreiber/Pool

The imagination of Lewis Carroll gave us the Cheshire Cat, the eternally grinning cat whose ghostly smile remained visible long after its face had faded away. And, perhaps, some cartoonist somewhere has already gifted us with the Eurocat, whose perennial smile appears long before the rest of it does.

The Eurocat, at any rate, is what I’m made to think of by the series of ‘presidential debates’ between the candidates for the presidency of the European Commission. Did you know the last one is due today? Have you even accidentally stumbled onto a report of the debate held last Thursday between the two main candidates, Jean-Claude Juncker for the European People’s Party and Martin Schulz for the European Socialists?

Several of the non-events have already been held. In 13 member states, including Malta, no public TV broadcaster has even bothered to air them. The remaining 15 have not exactly been enthusiastic supporters, either. In more than one case, the debates were relegated to one of the broadcaster’s minor channels.

The poor audience figures have led to a catch-22 situation. Broadcasters are reluctant to sacrifice valuable airtime and are settling to make the debates an internet affair. As a result, however, the attempt to make the EU more democratic and closer to its citizens has ended up confirming the distance. The Greek leader of the radical left’s European alliance – whose signature tune is European leaders’ unaccountability – hasn’t even bothered to turn up for the debates.

It’s not the broadcasters’ fault. Not a single Euro anorak has managed to come up with a single point of noteworthy difference between the two essential candidates, Juncker and Schulz. The thing is that they’ve worked together for years and could, if they wanted to, finish off each other’s sentences.

They agree on the essential strategy of economic recovery, with only some differences concerning bookkeeping. They agree on Europe needing to take a more prominent role on the world stage, particularly on the question of Ukraine.

When Schulz tried to let some light in between him and Juncker – he said that he wanted to put an end to the Europe that meets behind closed doors – Juncker quipped (truthfully) that it was behind closed doors that he had got to know Shulz so well.

From a Maltese angle, the point is illustrated with a quiz. Who ended his debate by saying that his major priorities were “jobs, jobs, jobs”? And who ended by harping on immigration, especially in the Mediterranean?

If it were a Maltese debate, all bets would be that Simon Busuttil was the first speaker and Joseph Muscat the second. But, in fact, it was Muscat’s old European Parliament chum Shulz who spoke about jobs and Busuttil’s friend Juncker who underlined immigration.

Does such overlap mean that the debates do not really matter? That European voters have it right? That we’re not losing much by using European elections to pursue national debates instead of European issues?

It is just about possible that a vote for Shulz or Juncker will not be worth much more than the paper it’s written on. They are the nominees of the mainstream parties in the European Parliament. However, it is not the EP that nominates the candidate for the presidency of the European Commission. The Council (made up of national governments) does that; the EP only votes on the nominee.

It is possible that a vote for Martin Schulz or Jean-Claude Juncker will not be worth much more than the paper it’s written on

All the candidates have, in fact, spent some debating time agreeing that it would be a slap in the face of democracy if the Council were to ignore the vote and not nominate a single one ofthe candidates.

Possibly. It all depends on whether the European public gets its slap in first.

What if the turnout for the EP elections is so low that the vote serves only to show what weak support the ‘winner’ has? The Council might then feel itself fully justified in seeking another candidate... with direct European democracy remaining, for the time being, the smile without the cat.

None of this means, however, that there aren’t real issues at stake, ones that the Maltese political parties, for a start, should be looking at.

There may be only shades of real policy difference between Shulz and Juncker. The likelihood is that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will have an informal veto on any candidate for the presidency, would be happy with either of them. But their broad agreement is as political as any disagreement they might have.

Their stance on Ukraine, if taken seriously, has implications not just for the eastern border of Europe but also for its southern one. If the EU is to move away from token action that is taken too late, its foreign and security policy will need to have a much better coordinated centre of action.

Does that suit Malta? Do our political parties have a view on this?

Nor are the commitments to action on immigration without, from the Maltese angle, a potential sting. The principle that is being invoked by Shulz and Juncker on the issue is that of European mutuality – joint responsibility for issues affecting everyone.

That principle has been invoked already in bailing out the stressed economies. But once it becomes accepted and entrenched in such key areas, it isn’t difficult to see that itmay be invoked – as a matter of principle, not just horse trading – in the matter of tax harmonisation.

Right now, ‘Eurocat’ happens to be only the name of a centre for the European surveillance of congenital anomalies. One could quip that the presidential debates have shown up the congenital anomalies of the current state of the Union. Perhaps.

But the debate between the main candidates has clearly been premised on a version of European federalism. And we really ought to know just how much of it, if attempts at federalism are made over the next five years, the Maltese political parties are ready to welcome.

ranierfsadni@europe.com