Sectoral impact : an insight into how the Maltese dairy sector adapted to EU membership

Abstract

Following an explanation of the natural and structural disadvantages or major limitations of the Maltese dairy sector, this paper traces the challenges faced and the investment and changes that have taken place in the dairy sector as a result of EU membership; the sector’s performance as a result of this investment and upgrading in the first ten years of EU membership; and finally the future challenges facing the sector. This paper, therefore, shows the impact that EU membership has had on one particular sector and how, by adopting the EU acquis, usually referred to as ´Europeanisation’, the sector was able to modernise and maintain its buoyancy in the face of fierce competition which followed in the wake of the liberalisation of the domestic market.