Monday, April 14, 2003

ROME – The tiny archipelago of Malta re-elected Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami's pro-European Union government over the weekend, leaping the last hurdle on the track to joining the EU in 2004 as its least-populous member state.

The general election came days before an EU meeting in Greece in which 10 countries, including Malta, are to sign up for the Union's historic expansion from 15 to 25 members. The opposition Labor Party promised to strike the country's name from that list if it won the vote Saturday, while the governing Nationalist Party championed Malta's enrollment.

“God willing, on Wednesday I will be in Athens to sign the accession treaty,” Fenech Adami said after claiming victory Sunday. He said the vote “brings honor to the country,” adding, “Now the other 24 EU and accession states will look on us with confidence as a stable country.”