Is it not striking and rather ironic that 10 years after the Labour Party had objected to EU membership, more than 81 per cent of the Maltese today feel European? This is considerably more than the number that had voted for membership in the 2003 referendum.

The sharp change in attitude in favour of the EU vindicates the foresight of the then Nationalist Administration and, in particular, of Eddie Fenech Adami’s firm belief in membership.

This is not being said to revive past political controversies but only to highlight the extent of the change in mentality. There is still today a small group of Eurosceptics, led by a former Labour Prime Minister, but theirs is a voice in the wilderness. Most of the hardliners in the Labour Party, including Joseph Muscat, have come round to believe that the island’s place is in the EU.

A great disappointment for Malta, shared by most, is that sometimes Brussels and some key EU member states are not responsive enough to matters that lie at the heart of one of the key principles of the bloc: solidarity.

Brussels acted swiftly to protect the euro in the wake of the difficulties some of the southern member states faced, and are still facing today, but it seemed to be a bit indifferent to the plight of countries grappling with the growing irregular migration problem.

This disappointment, or what can be called fly in the ointment, is likely to be reflected even more strongly in the next Eurobarometer survey. It remains to be seen to what extent it will affect the overall result and, in fact, the current survey already shows that irre-gular immigration is one of Malta’s main concerns.

It will remain so if the EU does not give, or is slow to give, effective help, not merely in terms of funds but, equally important, in sharing the burden in the relocation of refugees.

Malta, probably the most densely populated place in the EU, is far too small to take a regular inflow of irregular migrants and Brussels would need to wake up to what is fast becoming an urgent problem.

However, excluding the widespread disappointment over this, Malta has done well as an EU member. It is well recognised that it can do better, particularly in so far as the absorption of funds is concerned and, of course, the country has yet to work harder to raise the standard of living to that in the richer countries and to take a swathe of the population out of the poverty risk.

The previous Administration managed to steer the economy well, a matter that was lost in the wash of local parochial politics. While a number of countries are still struggling to cope with the effects of the austerity measures their governments were forced to take to control their soaring deficits, Malta spent most of the time dissecting largely parochial issues.

Of course, these need to be tackled too but in the wider picture they lose much of their significance. Unsurprisingly, the EU survey results show that Europeans see their rights as EU citizens as the most positive benefit of membership.

Almost six in 10 identify the free movement of people, goods and services. Malta has benefited from this too. However, besides the material benefits of membership, there are other positive factors that will continue to anchor the island to the EU.