Nerves jangle as Malta goes to polls on enlargement

Date: 06/03/03

By David Cronin

SUPPORTERS of EU enlargement will be nervously awaiting the outcome of Malta's referendum this Saturday (8 March), the first of a series of votes in most of the ten countries hoping to enter the Union next year.

While opinion polls suggest the referendum on EU membership will be carried, fears remain that there could be a last-minute surge to the "No" side, leading to a possible domino effect on the referenda to come.

The final stages of the Maltese campaign have been marred by rancorous bickering. Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami has accused the opposition Labour Party and General Workers Union, both of which are advocating a "No", of lying.

Claims that EU social legislation meant Maltese employees would be barred from working overtime were unfounded, he pointed out.

Poland, by far the largest of the prospective entrants, is immersed in a political crisis after the agrarian Peasants' Party pulled out of its ruling coalition last weekend, protesting at a new fiscal reform plan.

This could make it harder for the government to win its EU-entry referendum, due in June. However, Prime Minister Leszek Miller said "a decisive majority" of his compatriots considered EU entry more important than the make-up of his cabinet.

The embattled Czech premier Vladimir Spidla, meanwhile, is trying to reassert his leadership by holding a vote of confidence in his government next week (11 March).

His hopes of a smooth ride to EU entry were dented last weekend when Eurosceptic Vaclav Klaus was elected the country's president. Leaders of two small centre-right parties in the coalition headed by Spidla - a Social Democrat - have vowed to support him in the vote, declaring it would be wrong to trigger the government's collapse three months before its EU referendum.

The Czech vote will take place one day after a crucial meeting between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders in The Hague.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is urging both sides to back a call for a referendum on a political settlement for the divided island to be held on 30 March.

If the two communities support the deal, it would be incorporated into the EU accession treaty Cyprus is due to sign on 16 April.

But Rauf Denktash, the Turkish Cypriot leader, was maintaining his opposition to a referendum during a visit to Ankara yesterday (5 March).

Supporters of EU enlargement are nervously awaiting the outcome of Malta's referendum on 8 March 2003, the first of a series of votes in most of the ten countries hoping to enter the European Union in 2004.

ESO: In Focus: Malta says 'yes' to EU, March 2003 http://www.europeansources.info/record/malta-says-yes-to-eu-march-2003/

---