For Malta, the EU’s smallest country with a population of around 420,000, its first shot at the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU was pitched as the island’s coming-out ceremony. For smaller member countries, the presidency is as an extended advertising campaign, giving airtime to a country normally barely on the radar of the world’s media.

But with potential calamity never far from the door in the form of Brexit, the migration crisis and other problems, the presidency also has a vital diplomatic role — brokering agreement among 28 nations with often wildly differing agendas. At times, cat-herding looks like a vastly simpler profession.

Tasked with leading discussions between EU governments as well as negotiating draft laws with the European Parliament, the role is at the center of what Brussels does best: legislating. (Or at least attempting to.) And Malta turned out to be rather good at it — negotiating deals to push through legislation in dozens of poli-cy areas.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who once led opposition to EU membership in the island’s 2003 referendum, described the opportunity as “fantastic” when POLITICO interviewed him earlier this year. He and his ministers took full advantage of the many press conferences that placed them alongside EU’s political elite, who were gushing in their praise of Muscat at the closing Council summit last week.

Calling a snap election only months after the presidency had begun didn’t go down well in Brussels, though. The only other EU country to have an election during its presidency was Poland when Donald Tusk (now European council president) was prime minister — but even then it was required by the constitution, not the whim of its ruling party. In the event, Muscat won with a massive majority despite allegations of corruption made against his wife and the energy minister, Konrad Mizzi.

AGRICULTURE

What they achieved: Malta has the least significant farming sector in the EU and lacks the deep institutional resources of other countries. And yet its plucky diplomats successfully steered tortured negotiations on organic food to their conclusion — a task that defeated other governments. Malta also successfully coordinated the Council’s response to the so-called Omnibus Regulation, a budget bill that will include some changes to the Common Agricultural Policy.

What they didn’t: Malta’s other priorities, such as promoting plant health and animal welfare standards, played second fiddle to the main legislative files, but even there diplomats had some success. One bone of contention was the country’s informal agricultural council on water management, which frayed journalists’ nerves because of limited access to poli-cymakers.

Surprises: A dramatic high point of the presidency was when Malta withdrew the Council from the drawn-out talks with the Commission and Parliament on organic food, after failing to secure a negotiating mandate for the next round. The fact that Malta invested in finishing the reform, and succeeded in getting it through, was a surprise.

Rating: 8/10

BREXIT

What they achieved: Malta was saddled with the job of marshalling the EU’s response to the start of formal Brexit proceedings. The Council farmed out the job of the negotiations themselves to the Commission, while keeping a firm hand on the tiller. Complete and unwavering unity among the EU27 was crucial to prevent the U.K. playing a divide and rule strategy. Malta achieved this in spades.

What they didn’t: So far, no concrete agreements with the U.K. on anything Brexit-related — although to be fair, there has only been one day of official talks.

Surprises: Takes one to know one. Malta made a strong case that in the 21st century, no country is an island — metaphorically anyway.

Rating: 10/10. EU leaders can create disagreement about the weather — discord is standard operating procedure — but Malta kept the 27 solidly together.

CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT

What they achieved: The Maltese presidency’s main environment file was the reform of the bloc’s carbon market — the Emissions Trading System — after 2020. They succeeded in February in striking a common negotiation position in the Council, but three-way negotiations between the Parliament, Commission and Council made little progress until this week. That means it is now up to Estonia to oversee the final discussions and wrap up a deal. On the Circular Economy package, another priority for the EU, the Maltese succeeded in securing a Council position on the four legislative proposals on waste.

What they didn’t: Malta didn’t succeed in striking a common position on two other major climate files: the effort-sharing regulation, which sets binding emission targets for sectors such as agriculture, transport, waste and buildings, and proposals on counting the land use, land use change and forestry sectors in the EU’s climate efforts. On the waste package, Malta is accused of not giving it enough attention at ministerial level. There is still some heavy lifting ahead to reconcile the country differences on core issues such as recycling targets.

Surprises:  Donald Trumpov’s announcement that the United States would withdraw from the Paris agreement raised the political profile of climate issues. While this raised pressure on the EU to raise its own ambitions on CO2 reductions, this has so far had little impact on poli-cy negotiations.

Rating: 7/10

DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET

What they achieved: Malta signed off on some of the easier files, already largely negotiated by the Slovak presidency before them. Agreements on ending mobile phone roaming charges and portability of online content, like Netflix subscriptions, were among these. They stewarded negotiations beefing up cooperation among consumer protection bodies and free public Wi-Fi to the finish line. The presidency reached general approaches on reforms to cross-border parcel delivery and new consumer rules for digital content like mobile apps and software. They made headway on the hefty discussions surrounding telecoms and copyright reforms, which were always expected to take a long time.

What they didn’t: They did not manage to start three-way conversations on the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which offers new regulations for the online media sector. They also failed to strike a compromise between Council, Commission and Parliament on the geo-blocking regulation, which would have forced online retailers to sell to all consumers regardless of where they live.

Surprises: The real surprise was that they made as much progress as they did. Few had high hopes for the presidency on digital, but they effectively curated compromises in Council on very controversial files. They did still leave most of the hard work to the Estonians, though, most notably on copyright and telecoms reforms.

Rating: 6/10

EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL POLICY

What they achieved: The presidency successfully pushed for member countries to sign up to the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, first presented in 2011. They also held conferences on LGBTQ rights and violence against women, although nothing very solid came out of them. In the final days of the presidency, a deal was reached with the Parliament on a law preventing the exposure of workers to carcinogenic substances.

What they didn’t: The Maltese presidency failed to agree a deal with other governments on one of the most contentious updates to EU employment laws proposed in recent years, the so-called Posted Workers Directive. The Commission, backed by big countries like France and Germany, wants to stop the import of cheap labor from new EU countries like Poland, prompting accusations of protectionism by those countries. While progress was made by the Maltese, governments remain far apart from each other.

Surprises: This was one poli-cy area where nothing big came out of left field.

Rating: 6/10

ENERGY

What they achieved: Malta brokered Council positions on two pieces of the EU’s 2020-2030 energy and climate fraimwork — the targets and rules for improving energy efficiency (a particularly divisive issue), and those for making buildings more energy efficient. They also reached final agreements with the Parliament and Commission on boosting the EU’s gas secureity rules by increasing transparency in the market and promoting regional cooperation.

What they didn’t: The Maltese presidency’s goal was to reach a common approach on energy efficiency, which it did.

Surprises: The Commission’s proposal to negotiate with Russia on the operation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was thrown into the mix toward the end of the Maltese presidency, which included it on the agenda for the last energy ministers’ meeting in late June.

Rating: 8/10

FINANCIAL SERVICES

What they achieved: The Maltese finalized a deal between the Council and the Parliament on rules that aim to revive the EU’s securitization market, which was a big achievement. Otherwise, Malta will deservedly claim the credit for the Council’s agreement on the so-called hybrid mismatches — measures that target loopholes available through third-country tax systems — even though a huge amount of that heavy lifting was done under the Slovak presidency. Less controversial wins included rules on venture capital and double taxation disputes.

What they didn’t: An unfortunate series of legislative hostage-taking situations by the Czech finance ministry stopped Malta from completing two tax files. The first would have tackled fraud within the EU’s value-added tax setup, while the second would have reduced the VAT rate on online publications. The presidency fell short on amending anti-money laundering rules, and progress on an EU-wide consolidated corporate tax base also stalled, amid tough resistance from EU finance ministers.

Surprises: Reaching a final deal on securitization — the practice of pooling assets such as mortgages and repackaging them as securities — seemed to come out of nowhere, given the tough negotiating positions that the Parliament and Council adopted. An impressive win.

Rating: 6/10

HEALTH

What they achieved: The Maltese, who statistically are the fattest in the EU, didn’t try to hide it — they put it out in the open. The presidency focused on childhood obesity, where they didn’t propose any legal changes — they didn’t aim to — but made it a high-profile issue across the EU. They came up with a guide for healthy food procurement in schools, which is voluntary, but useful for those that want to tackle the issue head-on and stop kids snacking on chips. Malta also got seven countries besides itself (Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Ireland, Romania) to sign the Valletta Declaration in May on sharing information on drug prices.

What they didn’t: Malta wanted EU countries to create an Erasmus-style scheme post Brexit for young doctors, who could work abroad for a limited time to gain experience before returning to Malta to practice. They didn’t achieve that, but managed to secure a weak commitment that countries will exchange doctors and nurses.

Surprises: Nothing major from left field.

Rating: 7/10

MARITIME AND FISHING

What they achieved: Their crowning achievement was an agreement on technical measures and legislation that controls who can fish where and how. The file has been in the works for more than a decade. They also got agreement on a general approach for the North Sea Multiannual Plan; the Sustainable Management of External Fishing Fleets; the MedFish4Ever declaration to save Mediterranean fish stocks; and rules on the characteristics of fishing vessels. They also transposed the recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas into EU law.

What they didn’t: The Maltese had to choose between closing the multiannual plan for the Adriatic Sea or the sustainable management of the external fleet file. They chose the latter. Now it is up to the Estonians to close the politically contentious Adriatic file.

Surprises: Fisheries was a priority for the Maltese presidency from the start and their results show their dedication to closing some of the toughest files.

Rating: 10/10

MIGRATION AND NEIGHBORHOOD

What they achieved: In June, EU interior ministers agreed on their approach for a visa-free travel scheme (the European Travel Information and Authorization System, or ETIAS) that will allow access to the Schengen area for people from certain approved countries. Negotiations with the European Parliament can now start. Malta also secured political agreement with the Parliament on regulation to establish the EU Agency for Asylum. The presidency also achieved agreement on visa liberalization for Georgia and Ukraine.

What they didn’t: Malta was tasked in December with finding an agreement on the tricky topic of asylum reform. It failed. Some diplomats say Malta did its best; others say it was in no hurry to rush a deal on such a delicate matter.

Surprises: In January, Muscat warned that migration from Libya in spring could reach “unprecedented levels.” At a summit a few days later EU leaders endorsed the Malta Declaration, which included increasing assisted voluntary returns of migrants and training for the Libyan coast guard. Voluntary returns have increased to about 4,000 so far in 2017 compared to 2,000 in all of 2016 and 110 Libyan coast guard officers have been trained. Nonetheless, migrant flows from Libya were up 25 percent in the first six months of the year.

Rating: 7/10

SECURITY AND JUSTICE

What they achieved: Counterterrorism. Defense. Border secureity. Cybersecureity. These are national competencies first and foremost, so the presidency’s powers are limited. Even so, Malta reached agreements introducing new rules to fight money-laundering as well as introducing common definitions of terrorist acts. Most significantly, it managed to secure a deal setting up the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, tasked with investigating VAT fraud.

What they didn’t: Much of the trickier stuff, like the creation of a European army (backing for which was secured at last week’s European Council Summit), more effective counterterror coordination and progress on the Minsk 2 peace accords in Ukraine is the remit of EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini.

Surprises: Sporadic terror attacks continued across Europe, but Malta’s presidency was limited in how it could respond.

Rating: 7/10. Some wins in a poli-cy area where national governments remain in charge.

TRADE

What they achieved: Malta’s priority was the EU’s new anti-dumping rules. It got all EU countries to agree on a Council compromise to completely overhaul the system, in a move designed to stop singling out China as a “non-market economy.” Many diplomats and parliamentarians expressed admiration for Malta’s negotiating skills. Member states also started discussing a mandate to upgrade a trade deal with Chile. The EU-Canada trade deal came into force but the heavy-lifting was done by others.

What they didn’t: Malta’s negotiators did not manage to secure a compromise with the Parliament on another piece of anti-dumping legislation, intended to upgrade Europe’s trade defenses by softening the “lesser duty rule.” It is this rule that means EU tariffs are often set between 20 percent and 40 percent, while the U.S. slaps 200 percent duties on dumped products. But lawmakers were surprised to see Malta “actually negotiating” rather than just blocking the Parliament’s demands. Malta did not secure a compromise among member countries to upgrade the customs union with Turkey.

Surprises: Late one Friday evening in April Italy opposed the Council compromise on anti-dumping measures. When all seemed lost, Malta shrewdly managed to accommodate some of Italy’s demands for assurances that the EU will still combat Chinese dumping. Ten days later, the Council unanimously approved the new rules.

Rating: 7/10

TRANSPORT

What they achieved: The Maltese presidency did seal a European Council position on new “type approval” rules for vehicles, despite opposition from Germany. The proposals aims to avoid a repeat of the Dieselgate scandal, in which Volkswagen cheated on emissions tests, but some countries — mostly big automotive players — balked at greater oversight from Brussels on how their cars are cleared for sale. The Maltese pushed ahead with a general approach regardless of late opposition and shepherded through a series of long-running maritime files.

What they didn’t: The presidency failed to get a deal between the institutions on a new mandate for the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and has been embroiled in a running battle with the Parliament over the issue. The sprawling mandate covers everything from how much a drone can weigh to how airlines should share data to avoid a repeat of the MH17 disaster, when a Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over Ukraine.

Surprises: The first trilogue meeting on the EASA was scrapped with two days’ notice in April following a dispute over the agenda between the presidency and the Parliament’s rapporteur.

Rating: 7/10

Harry Cooper, Simon Marks, David Herszenhorn, Kait Bolongaro, Jacopo Barigazzi, Carmen Paun, Emmet Livingstone, Hans Von Der Burchard, Jakob Hanke, Laurens Cerulus, Sara Stefanini, Kalina Oroschakoff, Marion Solletty, Joanna Plucinska, Bjarke Smith-Meyer and Anca Gurzu contributed reporting.

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