EU membership has been good for Malta - PM

Malta progressed in the year since it joined the European Union, while remaining true to its identity, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi says in a message to mark the anniversary.

He adds that a year on, the majority in favour of membership has continued to grow.

The following is the full text of the Prime Minister's message.

A year ago, when we celebrated Malta's entry into the European Union, we said that after a long voyage the ship had finally reached port. Over the past year, what has the ship unloaded? What has it taken on board? And on which new route is it embarked?

The previous government strove so hard to see Malta join the EU because it had long seen that with membership Malta was going to progress while retaining and developing its identity. When I weigh the events of this last year, I can see that this process has already begun.

Malta's voice in Europe

We progressed while remaining true to our identity because, in the first place, the voice and energies of the Maltese and Gozitan people began to be heard and felt at the heart of Europe. I, as Prime Minister, as well as my ministerial colleagues, regularly meet and discuss matters that are of national interest with our European counterparts.

There is a long list of subjects, including every area that touches Malta, where Maltese arguments changed, in Malta's favour, some European decision that was about to be taken and which would have affected us even if we had stayed outside the EU. To the Maltese voices participating in European arguments I should add, of course, the contributions of the Maltese members of the European Parliament.

When the government insisted, during the referendum campaign, that membership was a matter of the common good, it also had in mind the good of its political adversaries: today, Labour MEPs can give their share to the Party of European Socialists, in a way that they would not have been able to do had Malta followed the anti-membership line that the Opposition party then advocated.

Another important Maltese contribution is that of Commissioner Joe Borg. His function is European, not national. But his contribution has a national aspect, both in the sense that now, round the European Commission's discussion table, there is someone who knows Malta and its interests well, and in the sense that with his very presence the Maltese Commissioner is broadening the notion of European identity that is entertained by the Commission, by the EP, and by the international journalists who follow the politics and policies of the Union.

Finally, I should mention all those who are taking their personal and social projects to mainland Europe - from local councils to the diverse non-governmental organisations; from university students who spend part of their studies in other European member states to workers who are going to these countries for further training. There is a long list of individuals and organisations that are bolstering their identity by taking advantage of our membership to acquire both financial aid as well as access to important networks of communication.

However, we have also progressed while developing our identity. We have become, so to speak, more European in our own home - in the sense that the European dimension in our daily lives is increasingly making itself felt. It is felt because of the major development funds that are flowing into our country - for example, for environmental projects and roads.

It is felt in the quality-of-life standards that people expect from the government and from every institution and organisation - at the workplace and recreational venues, in the natural and built-up environments, in production standards as well as consumer protection.

It is of considerable satisfaction to me when I note so many people measuring the government's performance against those very standards that the government itself had spent many years insisting were the ones it wanted for Malta: European standards. The Opposition, too, is now invoking them!

Integration, challenges and vision

If in domestic affairs we moved forward while retaining and developing our identity, we did so as well in foreign affairs. Over this last year we could better see how our integration within the EU has integrated us better with our other neighbours. Since Malta's word today carries the weight of an EU member state, our Mediterranean neighbours, both those of the northern shore and those of the southern one, would like to deepen their ties of friendship with us. And they have several times expressed their appreciation, even publicly, of the role Malta is playing in Europe on behalf of a more pacific, just and prosperous Mediterranean.

Before us, in the future, there are two European challenges facing our country: the approval of the constitutional treaty, so that it becomes the Constitution of the EU, and the adoption of the European currency, the euro. Over the past year, we made some of the preparations necessary to face both.

It is in Malta's interest that the constitutional treaty becomes the Constitution of the EU. It is my hope that in Malta it will be approved with the consensus of the entire Parliament - if only as a sign of recognition of the desire there is in the country to make a huge success out of membership and to develop a new style of constructive, national politics.

Joining the euro

Malta's entry into the Eurozone, timed to chime with the interests of the Maltese economy, should further integrate us into the EU. The adoption of the euro should strengthen our tourist industry and commerce, among other things. Yet because the euro is also making its presence felt outside the EU, our membership of the euro-zone should also serve to integrate us better in the international economy.

It was a quarter of a century ago that the Nationalist Party, then in Opposition, committed itself to work, once in government, to get Malta into the EU. At first, the PN was not understood by everyone. Perhaps because the vision was being outlined during a politically bleak and economically closed period, it might have been difficult for some to have faith in a vision of a politically and economically open country, of a government ready to bind itself with its people on quality-of-life standards, of a government ready to give the people it serves the right, in certain areas, to appeal to European institutions against it.

In the years following this period, we began to recover from it and to prepare for the voyage that would lead to membership. Yet even during this second period there were some who did not share our vision of a country that had enough confidence in itself to want to take its place at the heart of Europe. It could be that this vision appeared as one of heaven on earth - not only because of the prizes that Malta would win with membership but also because the length of the voyage and the hard slog needed to repair and equip the ship, a task to which we were all called to contribute, government, constituted bodies and the diverse NGOs, all of us, side by side, in the interest of the common good.

As we worked together we did not promise ourselves that we would create a heaven on earth. We promised to bring, as it were, Europe to Malta - and today almost everyone wants it here. We promised ourselves a future worthy of this country's capacities. We promised to work in the heart of Europe on behalf of Malta's best interests and for the common good of our region. This we have begun to do. There is so much still to do and to learn. However, a year after May 1, 2004, the majority in favour of membership has continued to grow.