Since 1 January of this year, we started using the euro as our currency, a process during which no tragedies or catastrophes occurred related to the changeover. The good work done by the National Euro Changeover Committee amplified the smoothness of the changeover process and today everybody seems to have forgotten that we changed our currency.

The European Union’s institutions have praised the Maltese strategy repeatedly. During a conference held in Malta the European Commission requested to use the Maltese information strategy as guidelines for member states preparing to enter the eurozone.

In these four months, although we passed through an election campaign, our country continued to attract investors. Companies in the IT sector and pharmaceuticals are opening up offices on our shores. These companies originate from all over the world and our currency, the euro, is a major factor for their interest.

The euro is a major global reserve currency, which means that international transactions around the globe are done either in US$ or in euro. Since its introduction, the euro has been the second most widely held international reserve currency after the US dollar.

The possibility of the euro becoming the first international reserve currency is now widely debated among economists. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in September 2007 said it is “absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency”.

The comments made by Mr Greenspan continue to affirm the importance and wise decision made by Malta to join the eurozone. Once again, we have another tool in hand to continue guaranteeing success for further economic development for the benefit of every one of us.

Everyone contributed towards this common goal and we managed to achieve another historic goal. This success is further boosted when one considers that there were people that rebuked our capabilities to achieve such a target.

Economic growth will continue to guarantee a better standard of living and better jobs for all. This also guarantees further investment in our society in services such as health and education.

Our country had to work hard to reach this goal. We had to reach the Maastricht criteria and at the same time, deal with the challenges such as the increase in oil and wheat prices that affected the daily cost of living. Following our success, other countries are scrutinising our strategies to make best use of our them in their national context.

One such country is Slovakia, the central European state that joined the European Union together with Malta back in 2004. My work at the European Parliament has led me to follow closely the Slovak process.

In my duty as the European Parliament rapporteur for Slovakia’s eurozone bid I had several meetings with Slovak institutions among which the government. During these meetings, on several occasions I was told that Slovakia is following Malta’s example in its information campaign in regard of the euro adoption.

This is another proof that Malta, not only is making a success of the European Union membership, but also we are becoming role models for other countries. However, our job is not complete yet now we must continue to guarantee that what we achieved is not lost and the re-election of the Nationalist Party to government is an assurance in itself.

The electoral programme presented by the Nationalist Party for this legislature nails down the commitment by the government to achieve more. With the work already starting to reach our own Vision 2015, we are confirming our commitment of becoming major players in the enlisted sectors.

The electorate showed its trust in Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s vision and gave the green light for our country to succeed further. The trust shown in the Nationalist Party also reflects the smoothness of the euro changeover. The Nationalist Party is the first political party to hold office in the election following the introduction of the euro.

We definitely have come a long way since the commencement of our European adventure four years ago. The decisive decisions taken by the government led by Prime Minister Gonzi have once again been proved as being the best in the interest of our country, our children and ourselves. The determination shown by Nationalist administrations to put Malta and its people amongst the finest has once again left the results.

Since the achievement of independence back on 21 September 1964, the Nationalist Party in government never looked back and achieved the objectives that were entrusted in its hands. A success story after another, apart from the few slicks during Labour administrations, led the Maltese population to be recognised by politicians and investors alike that although we fail in natural resources we have a valuable resource called human resources that makes our country competitive in international markets.

David Casa is a Nationalist MEP

www.davidcasa.eu

[email protected]