Labour's long-standing Euroscepticism

Since the 1960s, the Nationalist Party recognised the unique opportunities offered by European integration and took the first steps that eventually led to Malta becoming a full member of the European Union on May 1, 2004.

Within a few months from Malta's independence on September 21, 1964, the Nationalist government effectively placed Malta among other sovereign nations by joining the United Nations and the Council of Europe. At that time, Malta required to diversify so as to become much less dependent on Britain as its former coloniser.

The first exploratory talks with the European Commission were held in 1968 and by December 1, 1970, then Prime Minister George Borg Olivier signed an Association Agreement with the European Economic Community (EEC) with the ultimate objective that Malta integrates with Europe.

When the Malta Labour Party was returned to power in 1971 it took a different political stance vis-à-vis the EEC. The Prime Minister of the time, Dom Mintoff, had since 1958 thought up the idea of Malta being "Switzerland in the Mediterranean", which idea was resurrected years later by his successor, Alfred Sant. Once in power, Mr Mintoff took the road of isolationism and protectionism and quickly moved the country towards non-alignment and a special friendship with such leftist governments as Libya and Algeria. In that way, 20 fruitful years were wasted, during which time Malta could have worked its way towards an alliance with the EU.

On being voted back into office in 1987, the Nationalist government, headed by Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, resumed its bid for Malta's EU accession and a formal application to join the EEC was made in July 1990. However, negotiations towards EU accession ceased abruptly in October 1996 when the MLP returned in government and immediately froze Malta's application for full membership. The Prime Minister, Dr Sant, and other high-profile MLP figures knew very well that EU membership was in the best interest of our country. So much so that it now transpires that internal party discussions involving Dr Sant himself were held to map out the way forward on the EU. Yet, the MLP preferred to adopt a Jekyll and Hyde form of behaviour. Rather than re-routing Malta towards EU membership, the Labour government maintained the EU freeze throughout its 22 months in power.

The MLP continued exhibiting Euroscepticism even from the opposition benches and abdicated its responsibility by refusing to contribute to EU accession negotiations. It further embarked on a ferocious campaign against EU membership claiming that it would lead to loss of jobs and domination by larger states. On March 8, 2003, Dr Sant failed to respect the decision made in a referendum by an absolute majority of 53.6 per cent of Maltese voters in favour of Malta becoming a member of the EU. He promised to promptly put the Malta's EU membership bid on hold again if he would win the general election held on April 12, 2003. The election was won by the PN, polling 51.8 per cent of the valid votes against the MLP's 47.6 per cent.

Time has proved the PN right in its foreign policy on the EU. Malta has secured hundreds of millions of euros in European aid during its four years of full membership of the EU. As of December 21, 2007, Malta became part of the Schengen area and, as from this year, it joined the eurozone after meeting all the required qualifying economic criteria.

It is quite clear which of the two major political parties in Malta has consistently shown trust in the capabilities of the Maltese citizens and has managed to gain the respect they deserve among their European counterparts. History is well documented and cannot be changed.