A number of politicians and experts were asked for their thoughts on Malta’s EU membership as the 15th anniversary of accession, on May 1, approaches.

Question asked
“Fifteen years after Malta joined the EU, what do you consider to be the major gains of our accession and where has the EU fallen short of meeting the country’s needs?”

‘What makes us ‘European’ are the EU values we have embraced’

Joseph Muscat
Prime Minister and Labour Party leader

“Although Malta has been a member of the European Union for 15 years, what truly makes us Maltese ‘European’ are the common EU values we have embraced: human rights, democracy and peace. And our dedication to equality for all our citizens, which is why we have introduced gay marriage, given our 16-year-olds the right to vote, plus free childcare for women wanting to return to work.

By joining the EU, Malta gained access to its internal market – a market of over 500 million people. People who are free to study and work in Malta, like many Maltese have done in other Member States. This has given many of us invaluable work experience, and our students the chance to learn about other cultures through programmes like ERASMUS, making friends for life from all over the EU.

We also benefit from trade deals with countries like Japan, which we would not be able to enjoy outside of the EU. And EU funding: Malta has one of the highest project selection rates in Europe. Projects that are benefitting the whole population, from improving our roads and infrastructure, to the restoration of our historic buildings.

However, more can always be done to communicate the benefits of membership to combat the rise in extreme views and another Member State opting for a Brexit-style EU exit. More especially needs to be done to address the current migration situation, from tackling its root causes to devising a fairer system of distribution amongst all Member States.”

‘A success story, but expected more support over migration’

Lawrence Gonzi
Former Prime Minister and Nationalist Party leader

“Malta’s accession to the European Union and our subsequent decision to join the eurozone have both proved to be a success story in all aspects. The crucial test was faced and overcome during the 2007-2013 financial crisis when Malta outperformed some other EU and non-EU States economically, financially and socially.

Our accession has seen unprecedented investment in services, manufacturing, infrastructure, environment, heritage and education – all of which continues to generate results to this very day.

Notwithstanding our disadvantages as the smallest Member State, our size and our location were leveraged thanks to our integration in the internal market and, of course, the Mediterranean dimension we bring to the table.

In the meantime, our younger generations (today 15 years older) have enjoyed new and exciting opportunities in European universities, European business and European institutions, all of which feeds into our national realities every single day.

This did not happen by chance or because we were lucky. It happened thanks to a lot of hard work and most importantly thanks to our reputation as a vibrant, young and honest democracy.

There are, of course, areas where some of us expected more from our membership. I personally expected more support and understanding when Malta faced a major European migration crisis – much larger than what we are facing today. This was not always a failure of the European Commission and its institutions.

The Commission, the European Parliament and most of the other crucial agencies did indeed provide some support. But some other Prime Ministers sitting around the European Council table decided that their national political realities were more important than the value of solidarity among European peoples – an issue that continues to disappoint everyone to this very day and that will undoubtedly play a crucial role in the forthcoming European Parliament elections.”

‘The single most important event, but there have been let-downs’

Simon Busuttil
Former Nationalist Party leader

“Just last week we learnt from a Eurobarometer survey that just 12 per cent of Maltese would vote to leave the EU.

This is proof, if any was needed, that EU membership has changed our country for the better and laid the foundations for the prosperity that we enjoy today. Our prosperity did not come from thin air. It came from EU membership. 

The gains of accession have been so substantial that they beg the question of why we had to endure more than 10 years of political bickering over whether we should join. 

The daily lives of countless people have changed since 2004 as a result of membership. 

Today, thousands of people work in a sector that did not even exist before accession. Others work abroad because EU membership gave us a right to do so. Consumers benefit from internet-shopping, mobile-telephony and low-cost travel as a result of EU laws. Society benefits from infrastructure built with EU money. 

You can go on and on. 

But most importantly, membership gave us EU citizenship and we now have citizenship rights in a continent of half a billion, rather than just in a country of half a million. EU citizenship is truly priceless. 

There have also been let-downs and I expected more help from the EU on immigration and the scandalous sale-of-citizenship scheme. Most regrettably, I expected the EU to be quicker and stronger in helping us fight the corruption, the wholesale hijacking of our institutions and the gradual erosion of democracy that we have witnessed in Malta since 2013. 

That said, there is no doubt in my mind that EU membership has been the single most important event in our country since independence and that it has truly changed the course of our history.”

‘Will tourism, financial services, construction and e-gaming share the fate of manufacturing and farming?’

Alfred Sant
Former Prime Minister and Labour Party leader

“The promise in economic terms, was that EU membership would greatly enhance Malta’s attractiveness as a location for new investment and improve competitiveness among local operators. Transition periods would allow Maltese enterprises to achieve EU standards painlessly, while Maltese consumers would get better quality at cheaper prices.

Moreover, Malta would acquire significant EU funds. These would pay for infrastructural investments and contain the initial tough adaptations that firms would undergo.

The 15 years subsequent to EU membership can be split into two phases. One ran for practically 10 years, while economic growth rates remained low to very low. During the second phase, covering the following five years or so, growth really took off.

During phase 1, promised EU funds were received, sometimes with lags that disrupted project outcomes. They featured prominently in the government budget, fuelling infrastructural projects, and temporary support programmes for sectors like agriculture.

Yet, the government’s budgetary performance constantly risked breaching EU rules that cover public debt and financial deficits of Member States.

Arguably, this became more pronounced when eventually EU funds were limited to project allocations, that excluded grants-in-aid. Meanwhile too, Malta was paying into the EU budget its own membership dues which though rarely mentioned, increased progressively over the years.

Still, the expected surge in private investment hardly materialised. For an initial three years, financial services performed dully. Similarly tourism.

By contrast in phase 2, post-2013, economic activity surged to unprecedented growth rates that still prevail. The shift was effected because Maltese economic policy stopped only emphasising the need to satisfy the EU’s budgetary strictures and went beyond them to stimulate foreign investment, especially in services.

Tourism, financial, maritime and freeport services, construction, e-gaming have become the name of the game. Ironically, up to now these sectors are subject to minimal EU regulation, which is bound to change.  Will they then share the fate of manufacturing and farming?”

‘Malta’s EU and eurozone membership provides safeguards to investors’

Lawrence Zammit
Economist and chairman of Misco

“Malta has made significant gains since joining the European Union in 2004. I strongly believe that we have managed to exploit all the benefits that were envisaged at the time we applied for membership and during the negotiations phase. One way of looking at this is by seeking to understand how our country would have performed economically, socially and politically had we not joined the European Union in 2004 and the eurozone in 2008. It is easy to mention the funds that Malta has benefitted from as a result of joining the EU.

However we should also mention other things. We form an integral part of the European project, to which Maltese have generally aspired. The fact that Malta is a member of the EU and the eurozone provides safeguards to foreign investors, on which our economy depends significantly. The seeds of the economic growth we enjoy today were sown when we took the decision to join the European Union.

Our integration into Europe has also brought about a greater realisation of the principles of freedom that we cherish. Our EU membership has also made our society more willing to embrace diversity. It has strengthened our democracy.

Has the EU fallen short of Malta’s needs? I do not really think so. We need to appreciate that there are certain issues that we need to resolve and we cannot expect the EU to resolve them for us. It is important to note that at the time of the EU referendum 54 per cent had voted in favour of EU membership. Today surveys show that around 75 per cent of the population in Malta believe that the country will be worse off outside the EU.”

‘Security a major concern’

Mandy Falzon
Head of Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC)

“Overall, I think Malta’s accession to the EU had a positive impact on Malta’s economy, the quality of life of Maltese citizens and the opportunities brought about by the single market, particularly the freedom of movement of goods, services, people and capital.

The EU has contributed towards improving the quality standards of the food we consume, the toys our children play with, the possibility to study and work in other EU Member States and the major investment carried out on Malta’s infrastructure and human capital as a result of EU funding.

Maltese citizens have consistently shown they are in favour of EU membership, however security remains a major concern for them. The EU has often been rebuked by citizens for failing to find a common European response to this problem. 

Another issue is the one-size-fits-all approach which, at times, is not always appropriate for a Union of 500 million citizens. As the smallest EU Member State, Malta has advocated frequently on the need to have policies that take into account the different characteristics and size of different EU Member States particularly for certain sectors of the economy such as agriculture.

MEUSAC will continue to act as a bridge between the citizens and the EU to ensure that EU membership remains a success story.”

‘EU has changed our mindset’

Simon De Cesare
President, Malta Business Bureau

“Malta has gained substantially from EU membership. The most visible is the investment in capital projects that were accomplished thanks to the co-financing from the EU budget, whereby EU cohesion funds contributed heavily among others towards upgrading the road infrastructure, new health and education facilities, and renovating our cultural heritage.

This enabled industry and commerce to flourish, our tourism product became more attractive, and the wellbeing of citizens improved. But EU membership has enabled much more than what meets the eye. It consolidated Malta on the map of the developed world; it opened internationalisation prospects to our businesses with market access to third countries worldwide; and it improved the general standard of living.

Most of all and more importantly, I believe the EU has changed the mindset of the Maltese, who are now a people that is more open and ambitious to travel, study, live and do business abroad.

On the other hand, the EU has undoubtedly let Malta down on the issue of migration. It is true that this is mostly due to the lack of solidarity of several Member States, but ultimately it remains an EU failure. Facing a reality of ageing population in Europe and an immediate skills crisis, one would have expected that the EU is able to turn the migration challenge into an opportunity, primarily through fair burden-sharing, and secondly, with a strong vision of integrating migrants in the labour market, as well as their second generation in formal education and training.

This way, Europe would increase productivity, and also spreads the weight of social contributions on a larger pool of people, while relieving stress from our current systems that are not sustainable in the long term.”