A referendum on

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

membership was held in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

on 8 March 2003. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1302 The result was 54% in favour. The subsequent April 2003 general elections were won by the Nationalist Party, which was in favour of EU membership, the opposition Labour Party having opposed joining. Malta joined the EU on 1 May 2004. The referendum saw the highest turnout in an EU membership referendum (91%) and the lowest support for joining of any of the nine countries that held referendums on joining the EU in 2003.

Background

Malta's first relations with the European Economic Community (EEC) saw the signing of an Association Agreement in December 1970. This agreement called for the creation of a customs union based on free trade between Malta and the Bloc. Malta submitted a formal application to join the European Community in July 1990, which was met with a positive opinion from the European Commission. However the application was suspended in 1996 with a new Labour government. After the Nationalist Party won the 1998 election, the new government reactivated Malta's membership application. Negotiations to join were finished at the

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summit in December 2002 and Malta was invited to join the EU in 2004. The government of Malta announced in January 2003 that a non-binding referendum on membership would be held on 8 March 2003 at the same time as local elections.

Campaign

In the run up to the referendum polls showed voters were evenly divided over EU membership. The Nationalist government argued that Malta would receive EU funds for the roads and tourist industry. They said that Malta needed the EU in order to cope with globalisation and accused the opposition of

scaremongering Fearmongering, or scaremongering, is a form of manipulation that causes fear by using exaggerated rumors of impending danger. Theory According to evolutionary psychology, humans have a strong impulse to pay attention to danger because awareness ...

. The Labour opposition feared that EU membership would cost jobs due to the lowering of

trade barrier Trade barriers are government-induced restrictions on international trade. According to the theory of comparative advantage, trade barriers are detrimental to the world economy and decrease overall economic efficiency. Most trade barriers work o ...

s and jeopardise Malta's independence. They preferred that Malta should form a partnership with the EU rather than seeking membership and called on Maltese votes to either spoil their ballot papers, abstain or vote no. One billboard for the no campaign showed the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Eddie Fenech Adami Edoardo "Eddie" Fenech Adami, (born 7 February 1934) is a Maltese politician and Nationalist politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 1987 until 1996, and again from 1998 until 2004. Subsequently, he was the seventh president ...

wearing a Diaper made of the

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. The largest

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

in Malta, the General Workers' Union opposed membership.

Referendum question

The question voted in on in the referendum was confirmed on 3 January 2003. It was "Do you agree that Malta should become a member of the European Union in the enlargement that is to take place on 1 May 2004?"

Results

Aftermath

Supporters of the Nationalist party celebrated the result of the referendum but the Labour leader

Alfred Sant Alfred Sant, (born 28 February 1948 in tas-Sliema) is a Maltese politician and a novelist. He led the Labour Party from 1992 to 2008 and served as Prime Minister of Malta between 1996 and 1998 and as Leader of the Opposition from 1992 to 1 ...

did not concede defeat and said the issue would be settled at the upcoming general election. He argued that only 48% of registered voters had voted yes and that therefore a majority had opposed membership by voting no, abstaining or spoiling their ballot. The day after the referendum the Prime Minister called the election for 12 April as expected, though it was not required until January 2004. The main issue in the 2003 election was EU membership and the Nationalist party's victory enabled Malta to join on 1 May 2004.

References

{{Maltese elections