Unprecedented amounts of money were invested to improve the environment since EU membership but this alone will not save the island from itself, according to an independent think-tank.

The warning is found in a discussion paper documenting the first 10 years of EU membership released this morning by The Today Public Policy Institute, an independent think-tank.

Lead author Patrick Tabone, former head of Cabinet for EU Commissioner Joe Borg, argues that EU membership ensured the environment attracted more attention and funds than at any time in Malta’s history.

EU-funded environment projects between 2004 and 2013 attracted some €147 million but despite the significant investment, Mr Tabone noted, membership did little to mitigate the country’s most pressing environmental challenge: land use.

The major environmental improvements made as a result of EU membership will stand for little if development continues to encroach on “those few special spaces”, he added.

“If we insist on further encroaching on our rural spaces – ironically enough, now also in the name of agritourism – then the EU will not be able to save us from ourselves,” Mr Tabone said.

The report, Malta’s EU Story, charts the long road to membership in 2004 and the changes the island experienced as a result of the first 10 years. Various people were interviewed including former Prime Ministers Eddie Fenech Adami, Alfred Sant and Lawrence Gonzi and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

It widely concluded that Malta’s 10-year journey brought about “an incremental and fairly smooth evolution” that took the country forward in a number of areas.

“The result is – and this is a positive conclusion shared by all those interviewed for the writing of this paper – that as a people we are far less insular, far more open, and less resistant to change than we were just 10 years ago,” Mr Tabone said.

The most significant changes were evident in the way the economy was restructured as State subsidies, protectionist barriers to trade and monopolies were gradually dismantled to make way for an open, competitive environment.

But the report also highlighted the challenges ahead as an EU member, where the problems of others are also Malta’s.

The Eurozone troubles, the EU’s institutional paralysis, growing scepticism about Europe’s ability to solve problems and the UK’s move towards an in-out referendum that will coincide with Malta’s EU presidency in 2017 are the principle challenges the island faces.

Facts:

10.8% of first degree students or higher were studying in other EU countries in 2012.

964 Maltese are employed with the EU institutions.

€1 billion in EU funds came Malta’s way between 2004 and 2012 with half that amount flowing back in the other direction.

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