# Malta Applies to the EC (16 July 1990)

URL: https://allhistories.com/malta/timeline/1990-malta-applies-to-the-ec
Location: Valletta, Malta
Themes: Key Events

Malta had signed an association agreement with the European Economic Community in 1970, but the Labour governments of the 1970s and 1980s pursued non-alignment and close ties with Libya and the Arab world. The Nationalist Party under Eddie Fenech Adami made full European membership its central long-term objective after winning power in 1987. On 16 July 1990 Malta formally applied for membership of the European Community, on the same day as Cyprus. In 1993 the European Commission delivered a broadly favourable opinion but called for major reforms of the Maltese economy, including the tax system, state monopolies and the regulation of financial services. The government began dismantling import controls and introduced value added tax in 1995. The application divided Maltese politics for over a decade. The Labour Party opposed full membership, proposing instead a partnership with the Union, and suspended the application when it returned to office in 1996. The Nationalists reactivated it in 1998, and the long debate was settled only by the 2003 referendum and accession in 2004. The application therefore set the main dividing line of Maltese politics in the 1990s.

## Why it matters
The application began the fourteen-year path that led Malta into the European Union and redefined its national direction.

Ruler at the Time: [Ċensu Tabone](https://allhistories.com/malta/rulers/censu-tabone)

Prime Minister of Malta: Eddie Fenech Adami (Nationalist Party)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 2004 enlargement of the European Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_enlargement_of_the_European_Union)
- [Government of Malta](https://www.gov.mt/)
- [Wikipedia — Modern Malta (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta)