Microstate security in the global system: EU-Malta relations

Book abstract:

Malta applied to join the European Union in 1990. It is currently negotiating its accession. Due to its geographic proximity to the European Union and its strong economic, cultural and historic links to Europe, relations with the EU have always played an important role in Malta's search for security. The analysis in this book is carried out from a Maltese perspective, using a small state approach, which does not however neglect developments in the EU itself, in the Mediterranean region and in the wider international context. Attention is also focused on Malta's relations with its neighbouring countries and how these impinge on its policies towards the EU.

The book gives an historical account of developments since the late 1950s. Following this, a substantive part of the book dwells on the main political and economic ramifications of Malta's prospective membership of the EU or alternatively of other links short of membership. The domestic political debate and the main internal and bureaucratic pressures that have influenced relations with the EU are also discussed.

This book is the first analysis of EU-Malta relations spanning four decades and it throws much more light on the current state of play in these relations. It makes essential reading for students of European Studies but also for the more general reader, politicians, leaders within public administration, business and the professions.

Roderick Pace lectures in International Relations and European Studies and is Director of the European Documentation and Research Centre of the University of Malta.