Malteese Challenge

摘要

Malta, a tiny limestone rock set in the Mediterranean Sea, has been populated for more than 6000 years by a long line of conquering civilisations. The British occupied the island for 136 years, until Maltese independence in 1964. Now Malta is part of the European Union and faces a huge challenge: to comply with all the European Union requirements of its new foreign masters. But Malta is a country with a unique situation: its small size (similar to the Isle of Wight), coupled with a population over 400000 (rising to over 2m in the tourist season) makes Malta one of the most densely populated places in the world, with an economy based mainly on tourism (accounting for 42 percent of its GDP).