A referendum on

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

membership was held in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

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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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

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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

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and accused the opposition of

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. 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 comparative advantage, theory of comparative advantage, trade barriers are detrimental to the world economy and decrease overall economic efficiency. Most ...

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

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for the no campaign showed the

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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

wearing a

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made of the

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. The largest

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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) is a Malta, Maltese politician and a novelist. He led the Labour Party (Malta), Labour Party from 1992 to 2008 and served as Prime Minister of Malta between 1996 and 1998 and as Leader of the Opposition from 1 ...

did not concede defeat and said the issue would be settled at the upcoming general election. He argued that only 48% of

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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

Referendums in Malta Referendums related to European Union accession

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...