Malta should enshrine EU membership into the constitution to prevent a future leader “riding a populist wave” and taking the country out of the union, according to the head of the bloc’s business advisory group.

Stefano Mallia, president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)’s Employers’ Group, said the time was right for the country to “safeguard” its position by making the move.

The Maltese constitution acknowledges the country’s accession to the EU but unlike some other countries, such as Germany, it does not have an explicit declaration of EU membership as a constitutional principle. 

Mallia, who has been a member of the Maltese delegation to the EESC since 2010, believes that just as Malta’s neutrality is enshrined in the constitution, so should EU membership. 

“I don’t want to end up some day a hostage of some political party that rides some populist wave and says, ‘I’ll take Malta out of the EU’ because that would be catastrophic for us.

“So, if you put it into the constitution, you’d need the support of two-thirds of parliament and that would be much more difficult.”

He said he first proposed the idea during George Abela’s presidency more than a decade ago when he was tasked with examining whether Malta’s membership of the EU necessitated changes to the constitution.

At the time, he argued that just as the constitution has a clause stating that “Malta is a neutral state actively pursuing peace...”, it should also have a clause stating that “Malta is a member of the European Union, which Union is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity; it is based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law”.

The wording would be the same used in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Mallia says he faced opposition to his idea at the time, particularly from the Nationalist Party, which feared it would prompt a discussion on whether Malta should remain in the EU.

We’ve seen Brexit and in Malta, with so few votes making a big difference, I think it could be particularly dangerous

But with survey after survey now showing high support for membership, he argues that is no longer an imminent risk.

“I don’t think we are discussing whether we should be members or not so I think we should safeguard our position,” said Mallia.

“I see what’s happening in other countries with populist governments who take up anti-EU rhetoric. We’ve seen Brexit and in Malta, with so few votes making a big difference, I think it could be particularly dangerous.”

Mallia spoke to Times of Malta on the sidelines of the SME Assembly in Budapest, which hosted this year’s conference for small- and medium-sized enterprises in Europe.

And while Mallia feels passionately about Malta explicitly committing to EU membership through a change to the constitution, he acknowledges there are challenges for the businesses he represents.

“There’s an overload of regulation, which is putting a lot of pressure, especially on countries like Malta, which is small, and this is becoming impossible,” he said.

As an example, he pointed to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which requires companies to report on the social and environmental risks they face. While SMEs are exempt, large enterprises subcontract to them so they still must provide data for reporting as well as respond to requests for information from Maltese authorities.

“We are the champions of regulation,” he said, arguing that the EU needs to be more innovative to compete with China and the US, especially when it comes to areas such as artificial intelligence.

His comments echo those of former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi, whose major economic report published in September, warned the EU’s complex laws made it harder to compete against China and the US.

A looming Donald Trump presidency is another business challenge facing the EU after he threatened to impose an up to 20 per cent tariff on all US imports.

“That would have a huge negative impact of course. There’s no two ways about it,” said Mallia.

Mallia with Robert Abela during a meeting in Malta last week. Photo: European Economic and Social Committee

The measure would hit a long list of products from the EU from cars to pharmaceutical products and machinery.

Mallia said that given the “common vested interests” between the EU and the US, such a proposal “should be a non-starter”.

“I sincerely hope Trump will not go down that road, at least with the EU,” he said.

“But whatever the case, be it on tariffs, climate, on Ukraine, whatever the case, we in Europe need to move on. For sure, the silver lining I see is that we are going to have to push even harder on us as Europeans to become as independent as possible.”

Last week, Mallia led a delegation of 80 business representatives from across the EU to Malta, where they visited the Malta Freeport to understand concerns over the Emissions Trading Scheme and met Prime Minister Robert Abela.

“There is an image that we’re this island in the sun and we don’t do much except sunbathe, but the reality is that there are a lot of complex operations here.

“My colleagues need to understand what Malta is about and Malta needs to understand what is coming up at the Brussels level.”

Mallia’s five-year term as president of the employers’ group is due to come to an end next year but, despite contesting for the European elections in 2014, he has no political aspirations.