We have had 10 weeks of solid campaigning, first for the EU membership referendum and then for the general election. Before that we had a couple of months concentrating on the closing of the negotiations with the EU. The Easter break could not have been better timed to unwind.

It is, however, now time to get back to business. It is only a year before we formally join the EU and we must use these 12 months to keep up the momentum in the preparations for membership. In certain respects, we have made big strides and achieved a number of successes.

We have, for example, built new institutions and strengthened existing ones; brought our legislation in line with the EU acquis communautaire, adopted certain standards applicable in the EU; liberalised trade and started to dismantle certain monopolies.

However, these would not have the desired effect if we do not adopt a business-like approach in the coming 12 months to exploit fully the opportunities that EU membership shall bring about. We have the benefit of starting the EU membership experience with the possibility of having had 12 months at our disposal to plan for it and make it happen the way we would wish it to happen.

There is a clear majority of Maltese who want the country to join the EU, as evidenced in the referendum and the general election results. I strongly believe that with the passage of time, this majority shall increase, especially if, as indicated, those opposing EU membership shall accept it as a given factor and they themselves seek to reap the maximum benefit from EU membership.

However, these benefits shall not come like manna from heaven. We have to work hard for them, like everything else in life.

There are two key areas where a great deal of work can be done. The first is the continued propagation of the potential benefits of membership and how these benefits can be reaped. I believe there is still a great lack of knowledge about the EU, its institutions and its programmes and this lack of knowledge has made people shy away from membership.

There are financial benefits that go well beyond the Lm90 million that we shall be receiving from the EU for a number of projects that have to be implemented. We can only obtain these financial benefits if we know the rules of the game, and we want to go out there and play the game according to those rules.

Some of the benefits are not even dependent on the government, as they relate to programmes that target individual businesses, non-profit organisations, or persons. This means that a massive educational campaign is required to ensure that information is disseminated as widely as possible.

Although we have built new institutions and strengthened existing ones, these now have to be populated with competent persons that are capable of guiding the rest of society, especially the business sector, on how to manage the change process that has been set into motion.

We do not require government institutions that provide us directly with the goodies, but institutions that can provide the necessary guidance to enable us to get the goodies directly.

This brings us to the second key area that we need to work on. Most of us have traditionally considered Malta as their home market. Traders have mainly sought to run their business within the confines of our shores.

A number of manufacturing companies have sought to rely on the local market for their sales. Service organisations have focused on growing their business locally. Even companies operating in the tourism sector or exporting manufacturing companies have, at times, confined their focus on the local market, not so much for their marketing, but for their sourcing of inputs to their business.

Membership of the EU means that our home market becomes Europe, made up of 25 states, together with a number of countries with whom the EU has special trade arrangements. This change of focus requires a culture change that cannot wait for a 100 years to happen.

We have been very capable in the recent past to make a big quantum leap in modernising our economy, in introducing new technology in our businesses, in facing up to the challenges of the globalisation of business. These could have been considered as problems, but instead we considered them as challenges and managed to overcome them.

We need to achieve the same result with the way we focus from a geographic perspective. Our shores are no longer in Mellieha or Zurrieq or Valletta or Gozo, but in Northern Europe as far as the Arctic Ocean, in Eastern Europe as far as Eastern Poland and in Western Europe as far as Ireland. Business should thrive, grow and generate employment and wealth by using Malta as its natural home base but looking at Europe as its natural home market.

All this might sound too simplistic but in the long run this is the broad agenda that our country has. Failure to continue preparing ourselves for formal membership through the culture change I am mentioning would mean preparing to fail. That is something that we cannot afford to do.

The advantage that we have is that civil society, as represented by 31 organisations, representing the business sector, employees and specific interest groups like farmers and fishermen, students and young people, have stood four square behind the government in its drive to obtain the best arrangements for Malta and eventually to obtain the support of the electorate.

This should help us to get back to business within a short time and to create the appropriate environment that would create wealth and employment in our economy.