PRIME MINISTER LAWRENCE GONZI’S SPEECH DURING THE OFFICIAL CELEBRATIONS MARKING MALTA’S ENTRY INTO THE EUROZONE
Transcript by Melvyn Mangion
Mr President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is indeed a joy and an honour to welcome today such a distinguished gathering of guests.
We have gathered here today to celebrate our journey, our efforts, our achievements, and more importantly, our shared determination to make a success of this historic landmark.
Less than four years ago the Maltese people set on a journey as new members of the European Union.
One year later, we embarked on a mission we firmly believed would benefit our citizens.
Our resolve was put to test.
It required the courage to place the long-term interests of our economy above considerations of expediency.
Together, we worked hard.
Today, we are celebrating.
Thank you all.
We are grateful to all of you who believed in our vision, who supported us, who understood our tough choices. The Maltese people worked hard through the road less travelled that led us here today.
It is my deep-held conviction that what we are celebrating here is not the change of a currency.
It is much more than that.
During these last three years a major recovery in our economy was brought about. A significant reduction in unemployment in spite of thousand of jobs lost to globalisation was registered. We have met the rigorous Eurozone criteria while investing like never before in education and the environment.
We are celebrating today a nation that is not afraid to be ambitious in what it sets to achieve.
We are celebrating today a people that believes in its ability to succeed.
These achievements are the foundations of the next successes we are determined to achieve for our country.
We are celebrating the start of a new journey.
We are celebrating a country that is now in a much better position to attract investment, to sustain economic growth, to create more and better jobs, to invest in research and innovation, to sustain and improve our health and social services, to address major environmental challenges, to protect and to take care of our rich heritage, and to secure an education for all our children to succeed.
It does not, however, mark the end of economic challenges and the economic integration processes into the rest of the euro area and the European Union.
Like other countries, we are also continuously being assailed by intense international competitive pressures and the economic and financial turmoil resulting from increasing commodity prices and the turbulence in the financial markets.
Nonetheless, and despite these adverse conditions and difficulties, we look ahead.
We believe in our people.
We are outlining an ambitious vision and strategy for our country that builds on excellence in a number of clearly identifiable sectors where we feel we have a comparative advantage.
Within this perspective, my Government will continue to fulfil all the conditions of our commitments to membership of the Eurozone.
We will also be following with particular attention the growth of the role of the Euro in the Mediterranean region as it comes to be increasingly used both as unit of exchange and as reserve currency. Cyprus is sharing with us this historic step. Thus, all European Union Member States in the Mediterranean are in the Eurozone.
Both the Euro and Malta have keen parts to play in the development of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. This growth is patently vital to a more fully human orientation of the globalization process and to the building up of the larger Euro-African strategy.
The Euro is a tool for stability, boosts investor confidence, eliminates the costs of exchanging money, facilitates trade integration, increases price transparency, and strengthens our European identity. It is a happy coincidence that we are also celebrating our joining of the Schengen area.
We are honoured to have achieved such an important goal together.
The Euro is for the Maltese people a symbol of a nation and a people that is bold in its vision and capable of achieving its ambitions.
It is a joy for us to be able to adopt the Euro as our own.