Ten years since the Labour Party’s vision of a Switzerland in the Mediterranean, one of its staunchest supporters, Foreign Minister George Vella, has admitted that the benefits of EU membership outweighed the negatives.

Speaking on the TV programme TimesTalk, Dr Vella said that “with hindsight, things are different”.

He was still critical, however, of the EU Commissioner for Enlargement at the time, Günter Verheugen, who had threatened him saying that if the Labour Party did not give up its campaign he would make sure Malta would not get a cent.

Foreign Minister George Vella.

But at the end of the day, the resilience of the Maltese people and their ability to adapt has seen the island through the tough challenges of EU membership, Dr Vella said.

He listed several advantages of membership that have helped Malta progress, citing better fiscal discipline, increased job opportunities, stronger environment laws and participation in EU fora.

The PN’s acquisition of €1 billion in EU funds was praised by Dr Vella, who said a similar accomplishment would be difficult from now on.

Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, also a guest on TimesTalk, said EU funds had helped Malta improve its tourism product and infrastructure.

The first six months of membership were the biggest challenge, Dr Gonzi said, because the gates opened and foreign products flooded the market.

But soon after that, the Maltese started tapping into EU funds to improve the quality of their product and the economy started to move forward.

“A challenge we took on early was joining the euro,” Dr Gonzi said. Pressed on why it was necessary to do that so soon after membership, the former prime minister explained that he had followed the advice of economists who told him that, although the Maltese currency was strong, it was still vulnerable as the currency of a small country.

Soon afterwards, the financial crisis hit Europe but Malta’s adoption of the euro helped cushion the impact, Dr Gonzi said.