Malta - Foreign policy



As in his previous administration, Fenech Adami continued to follow a pro-Western, pro-European foreign policy. Although technically still neutral, Fenech Adami's Malta plans to increase its support of international organizations and programs such as the United Nations and Partnership For Peace.

However, the major foreign policy objective of Fenech Adami is to achieve Malta's entrance into the European Union in order to better integrate his nation politically and economically with the rest of Europe. Upon returning to office, he immediately took steps to reactivate Malta's EU membership application. Malta is one of 10 nations that will likely become full members of the EU in 2004. As countries seek full membership, development aid and support for agriculture had become a sticking point; current members have suggested that new members should accept less generous aid packages than had originally been promised, given the state of the global economy in 2003. Germany (among other nations) suggested that new members receive smaller farm subsidies initially, with increases scheduled as production quotas are met. The prospective members predicted that EU membership at anything less than terms equal to those received by current members would make it difficult to convince citizens of the benefits of EU membership.

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