Malta applied for European Community membership in July 1990, and this issue followed almost immediately — the application itself was politically contentious, opposed by the Maltese Labour Party on grounds of neutrality, a debate that would eventually see the application frozen in 1996 before being reactivated in 1998. The coin commemorates an event whose outcome was anything but settled at the time of minting.
Malta applied for European Community membership in July 1990, and this issue followed almost immediately — the application itself was politically contentious, opposed by the Maltese Labour Party on grounds of neutrality, a debate that would eventually see the application frozen in 1996 before being reactivated in 1998. The coin commemorates an event whose outcome was anything but settled at the time of minting.