The Europeanisation of Party Politics in Malta: Values, Legitimation, and Polarisation

419 Pages·2023·7.051 MB·English

by  Jean Claude Cachia

Springer Series in Electoral Politics
Series Editors: Daniel Stockemer · Daphne Halikiopoulou
Jean Claude Cachia
The Europeanisation
of Party Politics in
Malta
Values, Legitimation, and Polarisation
Springer Series in Electoral Politics
SeriesEditors
DanielStockemer ,SchoolofPoliticalStudies,UniversityofOttawa,Ottawa,ON,
Canada
DaphneHalikiopoulou,UniversityofReading,Reading,Berkshire,UK
Thisbookseriesoffersanoutletforcutting-edgeresearchonvotingbehaviourand
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electoral turnout, electoral campaigns, political parties, voting behaviour, electoral
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policy.Allbookspublishedinthisseriesarepeer-reviewed.
Jean Claude Cachia
The Europeanisation of Party
Politics in Malta
Values, Legitimation, and Polarisation
JeanClaudeCachia
InstituteforEuropeanStudies
UniversityofMalta
Msida,Malta
ISSN2524-8103 ISSN2524-8111 (electronic)
SpringerSeriesinElectoralPolitics
ISBN978-3-031-23289-3 ISBN978-3-031-23290-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23290-9
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For
Craig, Kirsty, Crystal, Conor,
Keanan, and Khloe
Acknowledgements
This book has been a long dream of mine. When I completed my Ph.D. at the
UniversityofLincoln,Istartedtolookatawayofturningthisresearchintoabook.
Severalyearshavegoneby,andthisbookisfinallypublished.Therearefewstudies
onthepoliticalsysteminMalta,andevenfewerontheimpactwhichtheEuropean
Unionhasonthecountry’spoliticalsystem.Whilstthisbookprovidesanoverview,
Ihopeitcanencourageotherstoevaluatethepoliticalsystemofthesmalleststatein
theEuropeanUnion.WhilstMaltaissmall,itdoesnotmeanthattheimpactofthe
EUislessinteresting.ThisbookexplainstheroleoftheEuropeanUnionandtakes
into consideration the events which took place in the last few years including the
PanamaPapers,theassassinationofDaphneCaruanaGalizia,andthedebateswhich
took place within the EU over the state of the Maltese institutions. I hope that this
book will be of interest to those who want to understand the way Europeanisation
can influence political systems and to those who are interested in Malta’s political
system.
It would not have been possible to publish this book without the support and
feedback from the editor Mr Niko Chtouris (Springer). Thank you for making the
process much easier and for your constant feedback. Special thanks go also to Mr
ParthibanGujilanKannan,MsKaliGayathri,andthereviewersthathelpedtomake
thisbookbetter.
Thisbookstartedwith myPh.D. journey.Forthis reason,Iwould liketothank
myparentsTessieandJoe,mysistersAlisonandVeronica,mybrother-in-lawEric,
andmyrelativesAuntyMaryandUnclePaulfortheirconstantsupport.Iamgrateful
to my friend (more like a brother) Andre who helped me in the editing process.
Special thanks go to Prof Edward Warrington, Dr Mario Vassallo, Mr René Mon-
seigneur, Mr Godwin Ellul, Ms Sarah Borg, Mr Matthias Portelli, Mr Maverick
Vassallo, Ms Antonella Pace, Ms Roseanne Calleja, Mr Mark Piscopo, and Mr
FabianVella(andtheYueteam).Bynow,Iamsurethatyouarefedupwithhearing
aboutthisbook,butthankyouforyourfeedbackandforhelpingmetocompleteit.
IamalsogratefulforthesupportgivenbymyPh.D.tutorsProfHughBocheland
DrBenKisbyfromtheUniversityofLincoln.Thanksforbelievinginmeandinmy
vii
viii Acknowledgements
project,whenfewothersdid.Thisbookwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutyou.I
willalwaysbegratefulforyourhelp.
Teachers play a very important role in a student’s life, and throughout my
educational years, I have found several teachers who inspired me to pursue my
dreams. These include Ms Angele Galea, Dr Roberta Cauchi-Santoro, Ms Brigitte
Buttigieg,MsOliviaStivalaCauchi,MsRachelSt.John,andProfColinHay.Thank
youforhelpingmetobecomethepersonIamtoday. Istillhavealottolearn,but
willalwayscherishyourteachings.
Special thanks go to the Institute for European Studies and my colleagues,
particularlytoProfMarkHarwoodandProfRoderickPace.
Specialthanksgotoalltheparticipantswhoagreedtobeinterviewed.Ihadthe
opportunitytointerviewsomeparticipantsin2013and2022.Thisprovidedmewith
the opportunity to discuss how the political system evolved within that period.
Unfortunately, Lino Spiteri passed away in 2014, a year after he allowed me to
interviewhim.Hewasagreatwriterandpolitician.MyPh.D.couldnothavebeen
written without the use of his extensive work which is extremely valuable for all
politicalscientists.
Lastbutnotleast,specialthanksgotomystudents.Ihopeyoulearnfrommeas
muchasIlearnfromyou.
Iunderstandthatthislistisquitelong,buttheseindividualsmadethisdreamof
writingabookontheEuropeanisationofPartyPoliticsinMaltapossible.
Contents
1 EuropeanisationandPartyPoliticsinMalta:AnIntroduction. . . .. 1
1.1 EuropeanisationandMalta’sIdentity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 EuropeanisationandMalta’sCulture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 EuropeanisationandthePartyLeaders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 TheRelationshipBetweenMaltaandtheEuropean
Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.5 MaltaandtheFourStagesofEuropeanisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.6 BookStructure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2 EuropeanisationandPartyPolitics:AReview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.1 ConceptualisingEuropeanisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.2 FunctionsandMechanismsofEuropeanisation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3 EuropeanisationandDomesticPolitics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.4 EuropeanisationandPoliticalParties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.5 TheDirectandIndirectImpactofEuropeanisationonPolitical
Parties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.6 TheConditionalityClause. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.7 EuropeanisationandPoliticalConditionality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.8 NationalPoliticalPartiesandEuropeanPartyGroups. . . . . . . . . 41
2.9 PoliticalPartiesandTheirEUApproach. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 43
2.10 EuropeanisationandEuroscepticism. .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 44
2.11 PoliticisationoftheEU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.11.1 PoliticisationandFraming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.12 PoliticalPartiesʼRoleintheEuropeanElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.13 EuropeanisationandPartyPolitics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3 TheTwoSidesofMaltesePolitics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.1 TheRoadTowardstheTwo-PartySystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.2 IdeologiesandtheEuropeanUnion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
ix
x Contents
3.3 PoliticalParticipation,Partisanship,andPolarisation. . . . . . . . . . 72
3.4 TheSingleTransferableVote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.5 CivilSocietyandMalta’sPoliticalSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.6 PoliticalPartiesandMediaPluralism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.7 PartyFinancing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
3.8 TrustintheMainPoliticalPartiesandPartyLeaders. . . . . . . . . . 87
3.9 MaltaandItsTwoSidesofPolitics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4 EuropeanisationandMembershipintheEuropeanUnion. . . . . . . . 93
4.1 Ideologies,NeutralityandEuropeanMembership. . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.2 TheEUInfluenceandMalta:The1987Election. . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.3 TheSecondStageofEuropeanisationandthe1992National
Election. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.4 ReformsandEUMembership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
4.5 Malta’sTaxSystemandtheLabourParty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.6 The2003EUReferendum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.7 MaltaandtheEuropeanUnion:The2003NationalElection. . . . 131
4.8 Malta’sPoliticalPartiesandEUMembership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5 MembershipintheEuropeanUnion:Challengesand
Opportunities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5.1 SecondOrderElectionsandtheFirstEuropeanParliament
ElectioninMalta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
5.2 PersonalisationofPoliticsandEUAffairs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5.3 TheEuropeanisationoftheLabourParty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
5.4 DivorceandtheEuropeanUnion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
5.5 The2013NationalElectionandtheRiseoftheLabourParty. . . . 172
5.6 EuropeanisationandEUMembership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
6 EuropeanisationandEuropeanValues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6.1 EuropeanValuesandtheMuscatAdministration. . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6.2 ADecadeofMembershipandthe2014EuropeanElections. . . . 196
6.3 MinorityRightsandthe2015HuntingReferendum. . . . . . . . .. 203
6.4 Malta’s2017EUPresidencyoftheCounciloftheEU. . . . . . . . 216
6.4.1 EUPresidencyandIrregularMigration. . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
6.4.2 TheMaltesePresidencyandtheOtherPriorities. . . . . . . 228
6.5 ThePanamaPapersandthe2017NationalElection. . . . . . . . .. 232
6.5.1 The2017NationalElection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
6.6 EuropeanValuesandMalta’sPoliticalSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Bibliography. . . .......... ......... .......... ......... .. 261