The framing of the EU during the spring hunting and divorce referenda

Abstract

The objective of this research is to evaluate to what extent did the EU influence the divorce and spring hunting referenda in Malta in 2011 and 2015, respectively. For this purpose, this study adopts the qualitative research methods of elite interviewing and document-based research. This dissertation concludes that the EU was not directly involved in any of these referenda during campaigning and both referenda were more of a national issue. However, there was a hint of influence, through the ideologies the EU accession brought with it, during the Divorce Referendum. On the other hand, there seemed to be no influence within the divorce referendum, even though the latter was directly related to the EU Birds Directive. Another conclusion is that national party politics were influential in these referenda, within the context of the characteristics of Malta as a small island EU member state.