Solidarity as the Small State Mantra for Malta’s EU Membership

Abstract

Malta is the EU’s smallest and most densely populated member state, situated south of Italy in the central Mediterranean. Keenly aware of its vulnerability and limited potential to protect itself, Malta has long fostered relations with external powers to ensure its future and while EU membership in 2004 was not coaxed in the language of solidarity it has become a defining concept at the core of Malta-EU relations. The degree to which the Maltese expect solidarity is seen by the widespread unhappiness with the EU’s response in hel** the country deal with irregular migration flows. As argued in this chapter, while there is unhappiness with the EU in this area, Malta also has its red lines when extending solidarity to others and its commitment to oppose EU’s tax harmonisation efforts means that it is often a cautious voice in the Council on fiscal matters. That said, small states can only gain by encouraging the concept of solidarity in an EU context as their inherent vulnerabilities mean that they are the most likely to seek EU solidarity in the future, hence solidarity as the small state mantra of EU membership.