Airstrip One

Diary Dates - 7th March 2003, 20.37

On the eve of the non-binding referendum on EU membership in Malta, which is set to take place tomorrow, here are the dates for referenda in the other nine accession countries:

Slovenia - March 23rd
Hungary - April 12th
Lithuania - May 11th
Slovakia - May 16th and 17th
Poland - June 8th (in doubt due to the difficulties of the government)
Czech Republic - June 15th and 16th
Estonia - September 14th
Latvia - September 24th
Cyprus - none planned.

The Maltese referendum is backed by a clear majority in favour of membership with 50% of the vote, the opposition has 25% and another quarter are undecided. The result has to be validated by a General Election between the 'european' Nationalists and the 'islander' Labour Party. The referendum has involved interventions from Tony Blair writing positively on EU membership in the Times of Malta; British Euroscepticsfrom UKIP, and the freethinking Tory, Daniel Hannan. The Guardian's headline: "British MEPs accused of interfering in Malta's poll".