The European question and Malta Labour Party 1964 to 2017

Abstract

The Malta Labour Party, throughout its history with the European Union, always saw this community as an economic opportunity to support the island state in the Mediterranean. A century after the foundation of the Labour Party, this research analyses the relationship of this major Maltese political party with the European Union from Malta's independence until the 2017 general election. This research goes back to the nineteenth century when Malta was conquered by the British after the Knights of St. John and the French’s short rule. Under the British, the Maltese fought for their political rights, mainly in 1919, when four Maltese lost their lives in the Sette Giugno riots. This led to self-government and it was during these times when the Malta Labour Party was founded. For more than fifty years the Malta Labour Party and the Nationalist Party were elected in the House of Representatives, which highlights the dominance of these two political parties in Malta. This research analyse the Malta Labour Party's leaders, how they evolved the party nationally and how the party structures evolved during this period and what were the huge changes that Joseph Muscat did to the party structures. Then, the research analyses the internal consensus which there was in the Labour Party and how dominant was the party leader to convince the party members on the question of relations with the European integration project. This research was done mainly by conducting interviews with politicians who experienced this on the first hand, mainly former Prime Ministers and Labour Party's leaders Alfred Sant and Joseph Muscat and also with academics who studied on the Malta Labour Party. Also, this research was done by going into primary sources such as the MLP's electoral manifestos from 1966 until the 2017 general elections.