In his New Year greetings to the diplomatic corps, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said that this year brings its own set of “new and special challenges” and two significant milestones that further integrated Malta in the EU – the accession into the Schengen area and the introduction of the euro.

“These achievements represent the successful culmination of years of solid preparation and effort and at the same time open up the prospect of fresh and exciting opportunities ahead,” said Dr Gonzi.

He went on to say that the Nationalist government has always seen Malta’s EU membership as a unique turning point in the country’s history.

“We are committed to the European aspirations and values in a deep and fundamental way because these are our own values,” he said. The prime minister explained that the introduction of the euro came about through years of careful work and sacrifice by Maltese society.

“It required prudent fiscal management, and the careful husbanding of resources on the part of government and depended upon the collaborative support of individual citizens and social partners,” he said.

Dr Gonzi said that the Maltese can look forward to making the most of the benefits of the eurozone – these including a more stable economy, lower transaction costs, easier price comparison and a more competitive environment for investments.

However, the prime minister pointed out that these are not guaranteed results but opportunities and that still calls for a prudent management of the economy.

Dr Gonzi said that Malta’s entry in the Schengen area is a physical manifestation of “Malta’s sense of belonging to Europe.”

“The Schengen common space greatly facilitates the freedom of movement of people which is an essential element of the European project,” he said.

He also referred to the Euromed process and said that the EU has intensified and expanded the process of cooperation in the Mediterranean – of which Malta has remained an active supporter.

“We are encouraged by the fact that, however slowly and cautiously, the process continues to move forward. Progressively it is becoming more complex and mature encompassing increasingly difficult and sensitive areas of Mediterranean life,” said Dr Gonzi.

Migration was another important issue that was mentioned in the prime minister’s address. “Because of its particular circumstances Malta experiences most of the problems but none of the benefits which result from inward migration flows. In practically all cases we have to deal with the product of irregular migration,” he said.

The prime minister said that Malta’s focus has to remain on the two main aspects of migration – “the need for humane but effective action to counter irregular migration; and the need for solidarity and burden sharing at both European and wider levels.”

He went on to say that even though there have been limited efforts and developments over last year, these were encouraging.

Dr Gonzi said that Malta will continue to rely on, and work, on the agreement of long-term measures of burden sharing at a European level.

“We believe that the consideration of this aspect still has some way to go. At the same time we are appreciative of the gestures of solidarity, in the resettlement of refugees, that have already come our way both from some of our European partners, as well as from other countries, including the United States,” he said.

Climate change was another topic that Dr Gonzi mentioned.

“As the United Nations Secretary General himself recognised in his opening address to last September’s high-level event on Climate Change, Malta was the initiator in 1988 to place for the first time the problem of climate change on the international political agenda and led to the United Nations General Assembly declaring that climate change is the Common Concern of Mankind as well as the adoption of the United Nations Framework Conv-ention on Climate Change,” he pointed out.

He mentioned the recent signing of the Lisbon treaty where he, along with other European leaders, made an important step in reinforcing “the European architecture to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”

The prime minister said that, in the near future, Malta will exploit the “healthy state of our economy to further reinforce the social dimension of our development process,” with particular attention given to employment, education and health.

He added that safeguarding employment, and enhancing productivity and rewards, are important objectives for the government.

“Last year we experienced the closure of factories in the textile sector resulting in the loss of many jobs. In terms of numbers these losses were made up through openings in other sectors,” he said.

Dr Gonzi also spoke about the anxiety that always accompanies redundancies.

“This year, the assistance we will be getting from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund will help us meet our responsibilities to help redundant workers find alternative employment,” he said.