Suchergebnisse

Malta has bucked the trend of its EU Mediterranean neighbours in many ways. This smallest of EU states barely dipped into recession during the global financial crisis and remains a stable member of the Eurozone whilst also having one of the lowest infringement rates and highest transposition of EU law records amongst the 28 member states. Providing the first comprehensive study of Malta's complex road to EU membership this book looks at the impact of membership on the country's political structures and processes and explains the principal factors that have conditioned the country's Europeanization experience. Reflecting Malta's unique and often contentious road to membership, the book explores the historical context and outlines how Maltese processes and policies have changed since membership and whether a causative link exists between these changes and Malta's membership of the EU. A wide range of primary and secondary sources facilitate the study complemented by a series of interviews with a broad range of Malta's political and social actors as well as individuals from EU institutions. This depth of analysis enables a holistic view of Malta's first decade of EU membership and helps establish the fundamental characteristics of Malta's unique Europeanization experience

The TEPSA pre-Presidency Conference which took place at the University Campus, Valletta, came at a very important cross-road in the life of the EU. Just before the start of the Maltese presidency of the Council of the EU two important events in world politics have cast their shadow on the future of Europe, namely the election of Donald Trump by a minority of votes as the next President of the US and the June referendum in Britain where a small majority voted to pull Britain out of the Union. The Trans-European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) was founded in 1974 with the help of the London based Federal Trust. Prior to the start of every new presidency of the Council of the EU, it organizes a pre-presidency conference in the country concerned and presents its recommendations to the incoming presidency. The conference in Malta was held on the 10 and 11 November 2017 and the main theme was RESTORING FAITH IN THE EU: STRENGTHEN SOLIDARITY, UNITY AND DETERMINATION. It was inaugurated by the Hon Louis Grech MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto who spoke about the Priorities of Malta's Presidency of the Council of the EU. The proceedings began with brief introductory speeches by Prof Jaap de Zwaan, Secretary General of TEPSA and Professor Roderick Pace of the Institute for European Studies which organized the event. The first session was moderated by Dr Peter Agius, Head of the European Parliament Office in Malta. Around 50 representatives from the member institutes of TEPSA in the 28 member states attended the conference together with more than 60 locally based participants who included students, civil servants, members of the public and of the diplomatic corps. The Hon Dr Ian Borg, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto responsible for the EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds, later participated in a discussion on the Minister's presentation and the TEPSA recommendations. Late in the ...

"Malta and the European Union" published on by Oxford University Press.

Reflecting Malta's unique and often contentious road to EU membership, the book explores the historical context and outlines how Maltese processes and policies have changed since membership and whether a causative link exists between these changes and Malta's membership of the EU. A wide range of primary and secondary sources facilitate the study complemented by a series of interviews with a broad range of Malta's political and social actors as well as individuals from EU institutions.

In 2005 and 2006, Maltese agriculture continued to adjust to EU membership and to its single market, with strong emphasis on environmental awareness, food safety and animal welfare. This adjustment was not an easy one as it followed many years of protectionist policies. In fact, all sectors required either radical reorganization in the way they operate or outright restructuring. ; peer-reviewed

As was forecast, turnout in Malta's first election to the European Parliament (around 82%) was very strong, indeed the third strongest in the European Union after that of Belgium and Luxembourg. However, judged by national standards, this turnout was lower than the one that is normally achieved in general elections and closer to that in local elections. The main surprise was that the Opposition Malta Labour Party (MLP), which joined the Party of European Socialists (PES) in September 2003 and which, until last year, opposed Malta's membership of the EU, grasped three of the five seats contested. This happened mainly because of the good performance of Malta's Green Party, Alternattiva Demokratika (AD). In the 2003 general election, AD obtained just 1,929 first count votes and gained no seats in the House of Representatives. But in this election it managed to bite deeply into the ruling Nationalist Party's (NP) electoral support, taking no fewer than 22,938 first preference votes, thus debilitating the NP's ability to secure enough votes to elect three out of five seats contested. Indeed, the third seat went to the MLP without a quota. It is also likely that had the NP and AD concluded an electoral pact encouraging voters of both parties to continue giving their preferences to each other's candidates, something which is possible under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, the third seat could have gone to AD by a few votes, instead of the MLP, but not to the PN. ; N/A

The second European Parliament (EP) election in Malta was again won by the opposition Labour Party which took three out of the five seats allocated to Malta (possibly four if and when the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and Malta's seats in the EP increase to six). The Labour Party gains go against the European trend where socialist parties have as a whole lost ground. But its causes are similar to elsewhere, mainly disgruntlement with the governing party. The change of leadership of the Labour Party may have also have increased its attractiveness. This was the soundest defeat suffered by the Nationalist Party at the polls in the past two decades. The Nationalist Party has been in power since 1987 (barring the short stint out of government in between 1996-98). Turnout dropped to 78.8% from 82.39% in the 2004 EP election. This is lower still than that of the 2008 national election turnout which was 93.3%. Notwithstanding this decline in turnout, voter participation in Malta is still the third highest in the EU after that of Belgium and Luxembourg, where voting is mandatory. In this election both national and EU issues featured in the campaign with the governing Nationalist Party projecting its 'achievements' in Europe, while the Labour Party focused mostly on national issues and the adverse effects of the recession. But, on the whole, national/domestic issues were more salient. Far right fringe parties made some important gains riding on concerns about irregular immigration. The Green party, Alternattiva Demokratika, fared very badly despite its effort to try and take the still potential sixth seat and notwithstanding that green issues have gained in importance in Maltese politics. Voters seem to have become more discerning: they rewarded those incumbent candidates seeking re-election who had shown commitment in their EP duties and supported the new candidates perceived to be capable of doing a good job in Brussels. On the other hand, they punished incumbents whose EP work was perceived to have been below expectations. ; N/A

On Saturday, May 24, the third European election since Malta joined the European Union (EU) was held. Malta elected six Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), one more than in 2009. The electoral system is the same as the one used in national elections, the major difference being that the 13 electoral districts are merged into one. It is a proportional system based on the single transferable vote (STV), which permits voters to enumerate as many preferences as the candidates listed on the ballot sheet (Katz, 1984). The small dimension of districts, the fact that the 'extra' votes obtained by party candidates are not transferred to a national pool, and acute bipartisanism have produced an almost perfect two-party system that, together with other features of the political system, makes Malta a textbook case of majoritarian democracy (Lijphart, 1999). No party apart from the two main ones - the Partit Laburista (PL) and the Partit Nazzjonalista (PN - has ever obtained representation in the Maltese parliament since 1966, nor in the European Parliament (EP) since 2004, although the greens of Alternattiva Demokratika (AD) occasionally came close to the objective. ; peer-reviewed

Victor Hugo once described revolutions as a return from the artificial to normalcy. Certainly, revolutions are processes that unveil the unknown in history. Revolutions are revelations. 1989 was such a revelation in Europe. It changed the European perspective from Yalta to Malta, that is: from internal division to global exposure. The turn from Yalta to Malta was not only a semantic gag. It was also more than describing the end of the Cold War. To link Malta to Yalta was not a nice way for writing an obituary to a closed chapter in history. To the contrary, "Malta" opened a new chapter in the history of Europe. I call this fundamental fact "the Malta turn of Europe". Most people which were living the political events of 1989 or were observing them from a distance did not instantly grasp the meaning of the political changes that happened across Central Europe. Two basic meanings were revealed by the history of 1989: a fundamental geopolitical change and a fundamental sociocultural change – and both were fundamentally interrelated. The fall of communist regimes that had been governing many societies was met with excitement and joy, sometimes even with disbelief and worry across the world. With hindsight knowledge, two facts remain evident: 1989 did not begin in 1989 and it did not end with 1989. When we compare the fall of communist regimes in Europe with the French Revolution of 1789, we instantly realize the meaning of this thought: also 1789 did not begin in 1789 and it did not end with 1789. The French Revolution in its time went through periods of incubation. And it continued through several periods of transformation, of revolutions inside the revolution, of unexpected results and unintended consequences. The same was happening in Europe again two centuries later. Three insights remain fundamental to better contextualize 1989 and the Malta summit in that year that declared the Cold War dead. ; N/A

Acknowledge: The University of Malta would like to acknowledge its gratitude to the European Commission, Directorate-General for the Budget for their permission to upload this work on OAR@UoM. Further reuse of this document can be made, provided the source is acknowledged. This work was made available with the help of the Publications Office of the European Union, Copyright and Legal Issues Section. ; The EU budget is an important tool that puts EU policies into practice. It finances actions that Member States cannot fund on their own or which they can fund more economically by pooling their resources. The EU budget is adopted through a democratic procedure: it is prepared by the European Commission (the EU's executive body) and is then discussed and agreed by the Council of the EU (representing EU Member States, including Malta) and by the European Parliament (where the democratically elected Maltese representatives sit). Once adopted, the budget is then managed either jointly by the EU Member States and the Commission, or directly by the Commission. In practice, 80 % of the EU budget is managed by national or regional governments. Through grants, loans and other forms of financing, the EU budget provides financial support to hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries such as students, scientists, NGOs, SMEs, towns and regions ; N/A

This study is being carried out by the Author in a personal and independent capacity and has no relation to his professional or other institutional affiliations; nor does it necessarily spell out the policy of any such institutions in the area being addressed in this report. ; A comparative analytic study of European Union (EU) & Maltese legislation in the fields of social policy, employment and industrial relations, as well as an overview of the impact on employers in Malta of the EU acquis in this area. This study prepared by Dr. Godfrey Baldacchino, was commissioned by the Malta Employers' Association as a contribution to the on-going national debate on the rights and wrongs of Malta's current bid to join the European Union. It has served as the basis for discussions with Government in preparation for bilateral negotiations with the European Union on behalf of all employers in Malta. ; N/A

Cyprus and Malta. Islands. Small Sovereign states . Mediterranean fortresses for much of their long colonial history. Achieved independence from Britain in the 1960s. With strong trade union movements, especially in the heavily unionised public sector. With booming economies registering high and steady rates of economic growth and with low rates of unemployment. Geared towards the provision of services, particularly tourism. No wonder that it seemed a matter of course for them to apply to join the European Union, just two weeks apart from each other in July 1990. Similarly, it seemed only natural for the E.U. to place the applications in the same basket and to nurture them together all along the tortuous route of deliberation. ; peer-reviewed