Malta Lagging Behind In EU Accession Talks

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

11 July 2002

There are fears that Malta may not be ready when the next crop of hopefuls accede to the European Union, according to a report in the Malta Independent on Wednesday.

The newspaper quoted unnamed sources close to the EU accession commission as warning that the jurisdiction could miss out on EU membership unless rapid progress is made on the seven aquis chapters still to be closed before October.

'We are worried because Malta is lagging behind others,' a diplomatic source in Brussels revealed to the newspaper, referring to the fact that front-runners such as Cyprus, and Poland have closed 27 and 25 of the 30 chapters respectively, compared to Malta's 23.

Although all of the countries aiming to join the European Union in 2004 (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, and Malta) still have to reach agreements with the EU over aid to their agriculture sectors and the regional subsidies which will be received after accession, there are likely to be even tougher times ahead for Malta, which still needs to close chapters relating to taxation, competition policy, and the environment.

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