Suchergebnisse

1. Introduction -- 2. Europeanization -- 3. Maltese political development and the question of 'Europe' -- 4. The road to 'Europe' -- 5. Malta as a member of the EU -- 6. Malta's integration into the Customs Union -- 7. EU membership and the Maltese agricultural sector -- 8. An assessment of Malta's Europeanization experience.

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

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 an attempt to decentre the debate of democracy promotion in the Mediterranean, this article applies social constructivism to an analysis of the work undertaken by two International Parliamentary Bodies in the Mediterranean. With a focus on the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, we analyse how effective their role can be without coercion and move on to discuss whether newly formed democratic parliaments, as in Tunisia, may represent a more legitimate and viable source of parliamentary-driven democracy promotion.

In an attempt to decentre the debate of democracy promotion in the Mediterranean, this article applies social constructivism to an analysis of the work undertaken by two International Parliamentary Bodies in the Mediterranean. With a focus on the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, we analyse how effective their role can be without coercion and move on to discuss whether newly formed democratic parliaments, as in Tunisia, may represent a more legitimate and viable source of parliamentary-driven democracy promotion. ; peer-reviewed

Chapter 5 ; When Malta launched its Council of the EU Presidency in January 2017, the Government outlined its intention "to contribute", "to focus" and "to deliver" in various sectors but it was only in the area of social inclusion where Malta intended "to lead" with the aim that "we hope our experiences can rub off on our European partners". This statement reflected the reality, both domestic and European, of the state of social inclusion (and LGBTIQ rights in particular) across Europe; on one side, it showed that Malta had made significant advances in the area of civil rights and felt able to lead while the EU's track record was more mixed, reflective of its limited competence in this area and, some would argue, a lack of political will from the member states to allow the Union to be involved in this area of civil rights. [excerpt] ; peer-reviewed

This article analyses the impact of ten years of EU membership on the Maltese parliament. ; peer-reviewed

The Maltese Parliament has involved itself in EU affairs since 2003 when it established a system for monitoring the government's EU negotiating position. This was complemented in 2010 with a system for managing the Early Warning Mechanism. However, Parliament's involvement does not automatically imply an effective role and Malta manifests several of the limitations associated with Westminster, upon which it is based, as well as the specific characteristics associated with small legislatures. This paper analyses how the Parliament manages EU affairs, what factors limit that involvement and concludes by stating that calls for mainstreaming EU affairs in the parliament's work are unlikely to bear fruit in the Maltese context because the factors determining the degree of involvement are diverse while the Maltese political system enjoys high levels of popular endorsement, suggesting that there are no incentives to recommend change. ; peer-reviewed