Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast. It is a single-chamber parliamentary republic in which the prime minister heads the government and the president is the head of the state. The country is divided into 5 regions each with its own regional committee that intermediates between the local and national governments.
In July 1990, Malta had submitted a formal application to join the European Community. The proposal was welcomed by the European Commission. However the new Labour government, which opposed EU membership, took charge in 1996 and suspended the application. In 1999, the Nationalist Party won the elections, and Malta’s membership application was reactivated.
A referendum on European Union membership was held in Malta on 8 March 2003. In this, 54 per cent voted in favour of the membership. The Nationalist Party won again in the April 2003 general elections, which further helped the membership process to progress.
Malta joined the EU on 1 May 2004 and uses the euro as the currency. There are 6 members of the European Parliament from Malta. It has been a Euro area member since 1 January 2008 and also a member of the Schengen Area since 21 December 2007.
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