In her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, European Commission President Von der Leyen outlined plans for the establishment of 'EU Inc', which will allow citizens to register an EU-wide company online and within 48 hours. This is an extract from her speech. The emphasis is mine: > This reality also reflects the fact that Europe has all the assets it needs to attract investment – the savings, the skills, and the innovation – with our AI Factories and Gigafactories and the applications that are necessary, the ‘AI first' principle. What we need is to mobilise collectively these assets to their full potential. And to focus on the essential. Focal point number one is to create a conducive and predictable regulatory environment. We live in an age where capital and data can cross Europe in a second. And business must be able to move just as freely. But as things stand, too many companies have to look abroad to grow and scale up – partly because they face a new set of rules every time they expand into a new Member State. So while on paper the market of 450 million Europeans is open to them, it is far more complicated in reality. And that acts as a handbrake on the growth and profit potential of companies. This is why we need a new approach. We will soon put forward our 28th regime. **The ultimate aim is to create a new truly European company structure. We call it EU Inc., with a single and simple set of rules that will apply seamlessly all over our Union. So that business can operate across Member States much more easily. Our entrepreneurs, the innovative companies, will be able to register a company in any Member State within 48 hours – fully online.** They will enjoy the same capital regime all across the EU. Ultimately, we need a system where companies can do business and raise financing seamlessly across Europe – just as easily as in uniform markets like the US or China. If we get this right – and if we move fast enough – this will not only help EU companies grow. But it will attract investment from across the world. I bought incorporateineu.com a few hours after the speech. Once 'EU Inc' becomes real, I hope to make better use of it. Until then, I'll update this page as details emerge.

Two days of bad weather is all it took for supermarket shelves in Malta to empty out, after ferry services from Sicily were halted. Around 70% of our food is imported and our supply chains are one storm away from disruption. The Financial Times this week reported on a global shift where nations are stockpiling food at a fast pace, preparing for prolonged instability. Finland is extending grain reserves from 6 to 9 months. Sweden is spending €60m to stockpile grain, seeds and fertiliser. China is spending $18bn annually on stockpiling, with reserves covering over a year. India's rice reserves hit 58 million tonnes in December. Indonesia has nearly doubled its rice stocks since late 2024. Egypt expanded storage to 6 million tonnes, while Bangladesh is stockpiling fertiliser, diesel and edible oil along with grains. The era of assuming global supply chains will always deliver is over. Climate change, export restrictions, and geopolitical tensions have made food a strategic asset again, and in Malta we should keep this in perspective.

In a midnight raid on Caracas on 3rd January, the US quickly deposed Nicolas Maduro as President of Venezuela by kidnapping him and the First Lady, and bombing several locations. At a press conference the following morning, President Trump remarked that following the ousting of President Maduro, the US is "going to run the country until such time as [we] can do a safe, proper and judicious transition." There are still a lot of questions about what happens now that President Maduro is not in control anymore. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, together with other senior government members, was on national television a few hours after the press conference saying that Venezuela “will never again be anyone’s colony – neither of old empires, nor of new empires, nor of empires in decline”. At the same time, President Trump seemed determined that Venezuela is under the control of the US, saying there's a team that would be running it and that this team includes the people standing behind him at the press conference: among them Secretary of State Rubio, Secretary of War Hegseth, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, as well as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Stephen Miller. If history were to be of any guidance, Cuba might give us an indication of how the US could run Venezuela. In 1901, Cuba, right after the Spanish-American War, included the Platt Amendment in its constitution as a condition for the US to withdraw its troops from the island, but it also gave the US the right to intervene militarily in Cuban affairs, prohibit Cuba from signing treaties that could undermine its independence, and require it to lease naval stations to the US, such as Guantánamo Bay. Cuba was _de jure_ sovereign, it had elections, its own government, but ultimate authority always rested with Washington. Indeed, throughout the time that the Amendment was in force, the US intervened militarily three times in Cuba. The consequences of this were predictable. Cuban Presidents were always governing under the shadow of a potential US intervention and could not assert their authority. Everyone knew that Washington held the real power, and the Cuban elite, especially those with ties to US interests in the sugar industry, benefited the most. At the same time, local institutions lost legitimacy and nationalism became the only 'real' opposition, which in turn radicalised Cuban politics and eventually led to the Cuban Revolution of 1959. What could such a model look like for Venezuela in 2026? We can expect that until a "proper transition" takes place, Venezuela would undergo a period of 'constrained sovereignty' where the US would assert its right to intervene both politically and militarily, independently of whoever is in government during this time. While initially many expected that Nobel Prize winner and opposition leader María Corina Machado could lead a transitional government, President Trump has already shown his distrust, saying "it would be difficult for her" to lead Venezuela, and that "she does not have the support in Venezuela." At the press conference, Trump said that Secretary of State Rubio was already in touch with Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, and he claimed that she agreed to work with the US. "She had no choice", confirmed Trump, contrary to press reports quoting her as saying that Maduro remains "Venezuela’s only president". On the military aspect, President Trump made it clear that the US is prepared to use force again. "We are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so," he said, highlighting the US's apparent original plan to stage another attack, presumably should the first have failed. Any Venezuelan government would be expected to cooperate on US security priorities: stronger border control and counter-narcotic operations, with the implication that non-cooperation would only invite further intervention. Another provision, if not _the_ provision, in a 'Venezuelan Platt' would be US control over Venezuelan oil. President Trump himself has repeatedly stated, both before and during the press conference, that the US is "going to have [our] very large US oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country...". The US would probably also ensure that any transitional and future Venezuelan government would not enter into renewed agreements, or maybe any agreements at all with countries like Iran and China. "We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind [after] decades of that. We’re not going to let that happen." Just as in Cuba, any potential Venezuelan government would govern in the shadow of Washington, aware of the risk of being overthrown, should it do anything that goes against US interests. While we have yet to see how the transition is organised and how long the US would continue to directly impact politics in Venezuela, its actions on 3rd January, as well as its promise to "run" the country, could leave Venezuelan institutions directly dependent on the US, and only serve to increase anti-US sentiment in the country. _Chavismo_ is more than just Maduro; there are people who really believe in the system and will defend it. Indeed, elements of Maduro's government have already called for resistance to the US's intervention. The Platt Amendment in Cuba was eventually recognised as a failure by the US and was abrogated in 1934 under Franklin Roosevelt's 'Good Neighbor Policy'. It still created conditions for instability and radicalisation that eventually led to Fidel Castro's communist revolution in 1959, and Cuba has remained an authoritarian state since then. So can the US administer Venezuelan sovereignty without repeating the same mistakes made in Cuba? History suggests it will be difficult.

The following are some of the more interesting images, posts, links I found throughout 2025, whether online or in my travels. ### Recruiting for the Endurance A copy of Ernest Shackleton's famous 1912 recruitment advertisement for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition aboard the Endurance, which became legendary for its honest description of the dangers involved. The ad's warning of "hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger" with "safe return doubtful" has become iconic in leadership and adventure literature. ### British Army pay cheque A British Army pay cheque from World War II Malta from 1944, issued for £30 through Barclays Bank. It was used to pay military personnel stationed in Malta during the war, with revenue stamps affixed. ### The roads of the Roman Empire Itiner-e is a digital atlas project that hosts the most detailed open dataset of roads across the entire Roman Empire. > Tell your boss that I gave you the rest of the week off so you can explore this amazing interactive map showing the road network of the Roman Empire. This is so much fun to explore you can compare the Ancient and Modern road network for example. Great stuff. Your boss will… pic.twitter.com/kIcLb7oF1N > > — Simon Kuestenmacher (@simongerman600) December 5, 2025 ### British Passport for the Island of Malta and its Dependencies This is a British passport issued for the Island of Malta and its Dependencies, belonging to a Miss M. Mifsud dated 19 July 1950. It represents Malta's colonial period when Maltese citizens travelled on British passports before the Islands gained independence in 1964. ### Amazon's Hits and Misses A list of Amazon's experimental product launches between 2015-2022, showing which succeeded (green dots) and which were discontinued (red dots). It illustrates Amazon's aggressive trial-and-error approach to innovation, with only three products still alive and profitable out of dozens of attempts, embodying Jeff Bezos's philosophy that failure is essential to learning and eventual success. ### Socialist Heraldry A collection of the official state emblems and coats of arms from 16 socialist and communist countries throughout the 20th century, including Soviet republics, Eastern Bloc nations, and other socialist states. ### The Carnation Revolution After reading the 'The Carnation Revolution' by Alex Fernandes, I visited Lisbon and all the places related to the revolution in the city. The photos below show the entrance where the famous military officer, Salgueiro Maia, a prominent figure in the military coup of 25 April 1974, climbed on top of a military tank to address the crowd that had gathered in the square at the Carmo Barracks, where the Portuguese Prime Minister at the time, Marcelo Caetano, was hiding. ### Electric Lightning jets in Malta An interesting photograph of Electric Lightning supersonic interceptor jets of the Royal Air Force, at RAF Luqa in Malta, likely during the 1960s. ### Zohran Mamdani's start In 2020, Zohran Mamdani, then a 28-year-old Democratic Socialist and foreclosure prevention counsellor, won the New York State Assembly seat for District 36 representing Astoria, thanks to a few hundred volunteers. He went on to win the Democratic Primary in 2025 and the election for Mayor of New York City, all on a platform many deemed un-American. Goes to show how a few committed people can change the course of history. > Shoutout to the 423 Astoria patriots who made this possible 5 years ago https://t.co/XfKmf0f8Xe pic.twitter.com/NYB8MNiaL4 > > — Kara McCurdy (@karakul) November 22, 2025 ### On meetings I hated most meetings I attended this year because they usually are full of fluff and take too long, so I thought these 3 steps were a nice way to ensure that every meeting that needs to be held is productive. > Nothing upsets me more than poor decision-making meetings. > > You only need 3 questions: > > a) what information do we need to make the decision? > b) do we have the information? > c) what's the decision? > > Be prepared with (a) and (b). The meeting's only concern is (c). > > — Jon Wu (@jonwu_) August 5, 2025 ### Handmaking a cigarette case Not promoting smoking, but I thought this cigarette case someone made from stainless steel was very cool. ### Understanding the way you look at the world I don't have proof that this is true, but it reminds me of Napoleon Bonaparte's quote that "to understand the man you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty.” Have you read or consumed a piece of media when you were 9-13 years old that impacted your worldview? > I have a theory that everyone consumed a piece of media between 9-13 years old that is the foundation of their entire worldview. Everything they learnt since was stacked on top of this. It's a great dinner question to ask people. > > — George Mack (@george__mack) June 16, 2025 ### The year 2000 was when all of humanity was on Earth > October 31, 2000, was the last time all of humanity was on Earth. > > Since then, there has always been at least one person in space. https://t.co/Z4LrwxgCEe > > — Encyclopaedia Britannica (@Britannica) April 2, 2025 ### Investing in Peace Earlier this year, my article was published on 'Times of Malta', Malta's longest running daily newspaper. I wrote about a subject close to my heart - especially being a former diplomat - namely, the importance of having a professional, well trained, and motivated diplomatic corps, especially for a small country like Malta and in light of the current international scenario. You can read the full article here. ### Rovereto's Italian War History Museum In July this year I visited the Italian War History Museum housed since 1921 at the Castle of Rovereto in Trentino, Italy. It is one of the best military museums I have ever visited and does a good job in showing the history of armies and wars between the 19th century and the First World War, and collections of Modern Era weapons (15th-18th century). At this musuem I also found the items above - a poster showing British Army losses during the First World War, including Maltese soldiers, as well as the insignia of the Royal Malta Artillery. Wishing you a great start to 2026!

# A few days ago on 11th September, a platform was set up in France with the explicit aim to help consumers take advantage of different prices in neighbouring EU Member States of common staples like cigarettes and alcohol. Carklop's idea is to use the model that BlaBlaCar has perfected for cross-border carpooling to France's neighbours (Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Andorra), so that users can buy cheaper cigarettes and alcohol while respecting the EU quota limits. The platform, which takes a 15% commission on each ride, was created by Philippe Poulard, a 52-year-old entrepreneur from Haute-Saône, who observed that tobacco prices were almost three times higher in France than in Germany. According to an example detailed by Carklop, a round trip to Germany with three passengers allows everyone to save 379.5 euros on 33 packs of hand-rolling tobacco purchased per person, for a carpooling cost of 11.5 euros per person (petrol, toll, and the 15% commission taken by the application). This has of course angered the traditional tobacco shops, especially those near the borders, and the SNTL, the National Union of Light Transport, which has reported the platform to the Ministry for Transport because Carklop is a "tool for facilitating and almost legalising smuggling", according to SNTL. The president of the National Confederation of Tobacco Shop Owners called it "completely outrageous" and said they're considering legal action. For context, EU quotas allow each adult to bring back up to 800 cigarettes, 400 cigarillos, 200 cigars or 1 kg of tobacco. For alcohol: 10 litres of spirits, 20 litres of intermediate beverages, 90 litres of wine, and 110 litres of beer. Whether this platform will survive the legal and political pressure remains to be seen, but it highlights the stark price differences that exist across EU borders and the creative ways entrepreneurs are finding to exploit them.