Such a narrow and risky margin is explained by the desire of Malta's residents to preserve the independence obtained from the British crown not so long ago – in 1964. However, the country's prime minister, Edward Fenech Adami, parried these objections: "When a small country becomes a member of a successfully developing community, its sovereignty is strengthened." The ruling conservative Nationalist Party advocated the advantages of joining the EU: clear benefits for the economy and the provision of security.
The opposition Labour Party, which had enjoyed support and loans from the USSR, threatened an inevitable rise in unemployment: at present, under Maltese law, foreigners cannot work on the island. The Labourites reminded that under EU rules, state property must be privatized, and on tiny Malta the state owns almost everything – from communications and energy to airports and banks. Opponents of joining Europe warned that Malta, which lives off tourism, risks losing some of its income after joining the EU. This could also affect tourists from the CIS, for whom entry into the European Union is complicated by cumbersome visa procedures. However, at the Maltese embassy in Moscow, a correspondent for the newspaper Vremya Novostei was told that before the country's final accession to Europe in 2004, no serious changes to the visa regime are expected. Citizens of Ukraine and Russia who use the services of Maltese tour operators will still receive tourist visas under the simplified 1997 regime, that is, at the border upon arrival in the country.
On April 16, Malta will sign the accession treaty to the European Union in Athens. Malta is the first of the ten candidate countries (besides it, these are Hungary, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Estonia) to hold a referendum on joining the EU. Next to vote, on March 23, is Slovenia.