Yearbook 2004
Malta. On his 70th birthday in February, Malta’s Prime Minister Eddie Fenech announced Adami was leaving. He also left the post of leader of the ruling Nationalist Party. Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was elected as the new party leader and prime minister, who took office in March. In April, Parliament elected Fenech Adami as new president after Guido de Marco.
The total population in Malta is 441,554 people in 2020. Malta entered the EU on 1 May and became the Union’s smallest Member State. In the June European elections, as many as 82% of Malta’s voters voted, thus opposing the trend of low voter turnout in the rest of the EU. The election was a hardship for the government. The Nationalist Party received only two of the country’s five EU parliamentary seats, while the opposition party Labor Party won the others.
In July, Foreign Minister John Dalli resigned after only three months in his post. The reason was accusations of financial irregularities during his time as finance minister. See vaultedwatches.com for best time to travel to Malta.