Commonwealth needs egalitarian UK, or risk irrelevance – Muscat

The United Kingdom’s role in the Commonwealth has to become more egalitarian, or risk the Commonwealth “sinking into total irrelevance within the next decade”, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told an audience at the London School of Economics.

In his speech on the Commonwealth marking its 65th year of existence, Muscat remarked that the sentimental relevance of the former British empire’s colonies was decreasing among member states who, like Malta, saw themselves more as independent nations rather than as former British colonies.

“However, the idea that Malta should be involved within a wider international context remains strong. Indeed, Malta places a lot of importance on its membership in the European Union, an organisation that is geographically much smaller than the combined area of the Commonwealth nations. This makes the potential economic growth of a unified Commonwealth much higher than that of the EU,” Muscat said.

The prime minister said EU member states shared direct economic benefits as well as a shared commitment towards the freedom of movement of people, goods and capital. Countries who wish to join the EU must cede some political responsibilities to the union, an act Muscat described as “courageous”. 

“I believe that in the minds of many, the Commonwealth is seen as a vehicle of each and every member’s relations, many times of the rollercoaster type, with the United Kingdom. Can it be otherwise?” Muscat asked.

Muscat said small nations see Commonwealth meetings as an opportunity to rub shoulders with “global mammoths” in the hope of listening in on discussions that will affect their own economic development

Muscat also noted significant political friction in Commonwealth meetings with “prime ministers standing, thinking, sitting, looking at each other, standing again, and then sitting in another place… a veritable snapshot of the north/south, developed/under-developed, centre/periphery, big/small countries debate.”

Muscat said that while he did not wish to see the Commonwealth adopt an EU-like structure, he augured that the United Kingdom’s role in the Commonwealth will assume a more egalitarian tone, despite their history as colonisers.

Muscat suggested three possible models for the future of the Commonwealth, one of which was disbanding it and regrouping it according to an updated Charter of Values. The second model was that of a “multi-speed Commonwealth” with a nation’s membership dependent on its adherence to a “stringent” set of rules. Such rules would include democracy, minority and gay rights, religious freedom, transparency, and environmental sustainability.

The third model was that of a Commonwealth that offers “political and technical assistance”, nudging its member states towards more open governance.

Muscat did not identify in his speech which of the three models he was personally most in favour of.

Malta will host the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2015 after Mauritius, the original hosting nation, withdrew, citing human rights issues in fellow Commonwealth-nation Sri Lanka.