MALTA is to be the first of the ten potential new European Union members to hold a referendum on membership, and there is a real risk of a Maltese “no” that could influence opinion in the other entrant states.

Eddie Fenech Adami, the conservative Prime Minister, will take the risk despite a rising anti-Community feeling that could not only bring defeat for the “yes” lobby on March 8 but also affect other waverers such as Estonia.

The vote in Malta, the smallest of the ten EU applicant countries, with a population of 400,000, will be non-binding but it is seen as a test of strength of the Government’s case for joining.

In a televised address, Dr Fenech Adami said that the Maltese were being “called to have a direct say on their future and that of generations to come” for the first time since independence from Britain in 1964. The opposition Labour Party is considering a boycott of the referendum.

Dr Fenech Adami, leader of the right-wing Nationalist Party, insists that EU membership will bring this strategic island stability and security by giving its businessmen market access, quality standards, legal frameworks and fiscal incentives as well as encouraging investment. He said that Malta risked being upstaged if it remained an outsider, whereas as part of the EU it would have a voice. Voters were urged to “make a choice which will make us proud to be Maltese”.

But Alfred Sant, the Labour leader, said that joining the EU would mean job losses and the end of hard-won sovereignty. He demanded a general election instead. It would be far better, Dr Sant said, if Malta negotiated a free trade partnership with the EU, as Switzerland had done.

He mocked Günter Verheugen, the German EU Enlargement Commissioner, for using a graph on a recent visit to illustrate the financial benefits of membership. “He can produce as many illustrations as he wants,” Dr Sant said.

“We can always show him pictures of the bombs dropped on Malta during the Second World War.” The 1941-42 siege of Malta led to the island being awarded the George Cross.

At the docks in the Grand Harbour of Valletta, overlooked by the ancient fortress of the Knights of St John, many workers coming off their shifts backed Dr Sant. The shipyards, the capital’s main employer, are still steeped in the militancy of Dom Mintoff, the mercurial former Labour leader who held power in the 1970s and 1980s. Mr Mintoff, now 86, is still respected in the working-class docklands area where he grew up. He is backing the anti-EU cause in retirement.

“The Government has paved the way for EU membership by putting up taxes — but not wages,” one worker said. “What’s in it for us?” The powerful General Workers’ Union (GWU), which claims to represent nearly 70 per cent of the workforce, this week declared it would support a “no” vote.

The anti-EU movement is also bolstered by the hunting lobby. An estimated 15,000 Maltese hunters cherish their right to shoot or trap about three million birds a year (the last Maltese falcons were killed 20 years ago). They fear that EU directives on animal rights and the protection of rare species will put an end to their activities. On the face of it, a left-wing boycott would help the Government to win the referendum, which requires a simple majority of those who vote. The Government hopes that a visit to the island by Romano Prodi, the European Commission President, will bolster its case.

But the tide of anti-EU feeling is so strong, and love of politics so ingrained, that many “no” voters will ignore any boycott call — especially since many will be at the polling booths for local elections in any case. Even if the “yes” lobby does win the day, Dr Sant has vowed to ignore the result if Labour wins the next general election, due by next January.

“There is another important factor in favour of a no,” said a local businessman sipping coffee at a café near the 16th-century St John’s Cathedral, another monument to the Knights of Malta. “We get a lot of British visitors in Malta, and we ask them what they think about the EU. Almost all of them advise us not to join.”

Dates with destiny

EU candidate countries’ referendum dates in 2003:

March 8: Malta
March 23: Slovenia
March 30: Cyprus (provisional)
April 12: Hungary
April 16: Accession Treaty to be signed by ten candidates and 15 member states
May 11: Lithuania
May 16/17: Slovakia
June 8: Poland
June 15/16: Czech Republic
September 14: Estonia
September 20: Latvia

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