Sesiones del ejercicio.

In the political manifestos of 1987 (preceding the general election of 1987), both parties (the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party) tackled the issue of a future relationship with the European (Economic) Community. Under the subtitle “Our place

in Europe on the right conditions”, the Nationalist Party expressed the resolution to join the EEC: “We shall join the European Economic Community which will assist us in

carrying out the necessary changes over an extended period” (http://www.maltadata.com/pn-87.htm).

In contrast to this clear statement, the Malta Labour Party declared that they would pursue friendship with the Arab countries and would also make an effort to

establish “close ties” with the European Community: “It will give the greatest

importance to developing friendship with Arab countries, especially those close to us. As since 1971, a Socialist government will work for close ties with the European

Community, for the benefit of Malta and Europe” (http://www.maltadata.com/mlp- 87.htm). The collocation “close ties” reminds one of the idea of “partnership” that will be introduced in the future MLP manifestos.

As already mentioned, the Nationalist Party (led by Eddie Fenech Adami) won the 1987 election and applied to join the European Community in 1990. The Nationalists also won the 1992 elections and the EU-membership debate began therewith. The Malta Labour Party vehemently opposed the EU membership from the very beginning, which seems rather surprising in view of their desired integration with Britain in the 50s.

The Nationalist Party started streamlining Malta’s laws and practices with the aim of adjusting its economy piecemeal to the EU standards. One important change undertaken in this view was the introduction of the value added tax. This amendment together with the unfavourable response from the European Commission in 1993 contributed to their election loss in 1996. The Malta Labour Party (led by Alfred Sant)

After only two years, however, the Nationalists returned to power and reactivated the

island’s membership application.

The EU-membership debate in the 1990s was shaped by the question of identity. Emotional issues were raised, such as the future of the Maltese family, the Maltese culture and traditions, as well as the political and economic independence. These factors structured the debate and split the Maltese political scene as well as the electorate:

To its supporters, Europe was seen as a source of potential economic security and stability for a country that was vulnerable. (...) To its detractors, however, Europe itself was a threat to national sovereignty and national identity. Its influence was evident in various areas of life, and stimulated vigorous argument about the erosion of the Maltese ‘tradition’ in the face of European ‘modernity’. (Mitchell 2002: 12)

In 2002 Malta’s application for membership was accepted. Because of the extreme

divisiveness on the EU-membership issue, a referendum was held on March 8, 2003. Despite a high turn-out (91% of the electorate), only 53,65% voted in favour of the EU accession (http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2004/01/feature/mt0401102f.html). Because of the slight difference between the favourable and unfavourable poll results, Alfred Sant contested the elections.

Therefore, in April 2003 a general election was held. This was supposed to clear up the EU-membership issue. The Nationalist Party continued to defend the “full

membership” option, whereas the Malta Labour Party rebuffed the idea of membership and proposed a partnership agreement between the island and the European Union51: “A Labour government will create a package of incentives which are competitive, effective, sustainable and clear, and which will attract both Maltese and foreign investment within the context of a partnership relationship with the EU, which will be more flexible and

suited to Malta”(http://www.maltadata.com/mlp-03.htm). The result was that 51.8% voted for the Nationalist Party, which was interpreted as a confirmation that the majority of the Maltese population was in favour of the EU entry (http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2004/01/feature/mt0401102f.htm). Consequently,

51_{“Full membership” is to be understood as the r}

egular form of EU membership, in which the members

are equal, i.e. they enjoy the same rights and are bound by the same obligations. “Partnership” denotes a

the re-elected Prime Minister, Eddie-Fenech Adami signed the Treaty of Accession in Athens, on April 16, 2003.

In the next section I will provide a glimpse of the public opinion with the view to indicate to what extent people’s opinion overlap with the politicians’ opinion as the result of the influence of the political discourse on the average citizens, but also as a consequence of both politicians and common people forming a sociocultural nexus in which they interact. The public opinion will thus enable to disclose patterns of situated conceptualisations of the European Union or, more precisely, the situated ontologies52 of the source domains used to understand it.

52

The term “situated ontology” is used by Michael Kimmel in his contribution “Culture regained:

Situated and compound image schemas”. He argues that “image schemas” should not be seen outside

their sociocultural context. Embedded in a sociocultural context, image schemas acquire situated ontology (2003: 296ff). It can be stated that, in a similar manner, source domains acquire a situated ontological status when seen in their sociocultural setting.

Part Three:

Empirical Findings

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