Malta

Capital: Valletta
Population: 0.4 mill.
GDP per capita: 12 400 Euros (2006)
Schengen zone: yes
Eurozone: yes
EU-accession: 2004
Cities with European institutions or agencies:

EU-relations: As the smallest country of the EU, Malta was hoping for an economic upturn followed in the wake of the membership. First of all a better future for the tourist trade, more stability and security were strong wishes. However, the accession to the EU was a disputed point, and in this regard only a narrow majority of 53.6% supported membership in a consultative referendum. This was a fact, even though the Maltese representatives had obtained 77 special clauses in the accession negotiations. In this way, Malta could maintain some national laws that the EU would have liked to annul. The present abortion legislation is an example of this. Maltese obtained the status as an equal language of the EU in spite of the small number of native speakers. Economically Malta was strongly connected with the EU even before the accession. About 75% of the Maltese foreign trade are coming from the EU countries. The principle of military neutrality has been written down in the Maltese constitution since 1987. Sometimes Malta ends up in the European headlines, since it refuses to receive African boat people due to its high population density and small area.

Discovery

Discover: Malta

An archipelago of cultural mixing

by Solène LAVIEC - 20 January 2008 2

The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence of the University of Roma Tor Vergata, in partnership with Eurosduvillage group, is organizing the eighth edition of the Jean Monnet Summer Seminar a high level seminar on the functioning of the European Union addressed to graduate and Phd students as well as young civil servants. The seminar include two teaching modules lasting one week. The first module (4-8 July) will analyze the decision making process of the European Union while the second one (11-15 July) the foreign policy of the European Union. For more information and registration go to: http://www.eusummerseminar.uniroma2.it/