Neale Richmond (Fine Gael)
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I thank Ms Mizzi for her excellent address which is much appreciated. I wish to pick up on a few issues by asking a couple of questions and making some points. The first concerns Malta's forthcoming EU Presidency and I wish Ms Mizzi luck for what will be a very busy year, as I know that elections are scheduled for Malta in 2017. She rightly mentioned Malta's efforts to rebuild civic trust in the EU, which is vitally important.

What are the Presidency's plans to reach out to the citizens of Europe? When we held the Presidency in 2013 we had a number of very active civic dialogues, which worked well, but the key thing for us to do in order for us to try to re-promote the EU and address the populism of both the left and the right is to engage with citizens, refine the EU, be clear what the EU is about and take on board people's concerns. We have talked about the concerns and people veering towards populism but now we must begin to act.

How does Ms Mizzi feel the Presidency will be able to drive the trade policies of the Union over the next six months? TTIP, alas, is dead in the water with the election of Mr. Trump, in addition to considerable opposition here but especially on the Continent, but there are opportunities in Australia, New Zealand and with the Mercosur region and the Far East. How can we prioritise those area and bring the trade deals on-stream?

I am sure a number of my colleagues will express the same concerns on Brexit as everyone who has come before the committee share, namely, the unique situation Ireland - North and South - face going into the negotiation process. While we fully respect all the UK-Maltese arrangements prior to accession, there are a number of Anglo-Irish agreements that also need to be respected. Our main hope is that we can both work together to avoid an overly hard Brexit. I do not think it is in either country’s interests.

I am in a very small minority in both Houses, and in society in general, in that I believe Ireland rejoining the Commonwealth would be a good thing. I am aware that Malta is to take over the leadership of that body next year. From her diplomatic experience could Ms Mizzi give us detail about how membership of the Commonwealth works for Malta, the opportunities that lie ahead and how a potential future application from Ireland would be received by Commonwealth members?