The impact of EU membership on the Maltese house of representatives

Abstract

The literature has long been interested on European-level institutions. The significant changes that national institutions such as the national parliaments have to pursue due to EU membership was very often overlooked until in the early 1990s 'Europeanization' emerged as a distinct focus of research and became a fixture in EU studies. It addresses the adjustments made by national institutions to fulfil their European commitments. Almost 10 years since Malta joined the EU, research on the impact of EU membership on the Maltese House of Representatives are very limited. This dissertation aims to contribute to the literature. After reviewing the relevant literature and conceptualise the term 'Europeanization', the impact of EU membership on the Maltese House of Representatives is assessed using an institutional approach in which changes in four areas are identified. This dissertation will try to answer a key research question; how and to what extent has been the impact of EU membership on the Maltese House of Representatives? Given the new powers granted to the national parliaments following the entry of the Lisbon Treaty, this study will also assess if Malta's Parliament is rising to this challenge. To test the performance of the Maltese Parliament, a comparative case-study will be used to shed more light on its success or failure. Since Malta's Parliament is heavily influenced by the workings of Westminster, the British Parliament will be used in our comparative approach. The evidence gathered from Malta through interviews, annual reports and parliamentary data, shows that the impact of EU membership on the Maltese Parliament has been substantial. Whilst the unprecedented workload remains the most obvious impact, we observe that due to the highly centralized machinery adopted by the executive, the polarised two party system and lack of administrative resources, the Maltese Parliament is struggling to remain the highest institution in the country.