Brexit and Malta’s coping strategies: diverging shelters

ABSTRACT Malta is the EU’s smallest member state but also a close ally of the UK with which it shares many political, economic and social ties having been a British colony from 1800 to 1964. Malta joined the Union in 2004 and its membership has been a marked success with strong economic growth, but membership often involved close cooperation with the UK. This article will analyse how Malta has coped with the loss of one of its closest allies by focusing on its involvement in the Brexit negotiations and the shifts in its objectives and strategies in the area of foreign and security policy. This article will discuss how Malta is coping with Brexit, whether the country sought to shelter, hide or hedge during the Brexit negotiations and what logic underpinned the strategies adopted. Finally, we discuss whether the strategies linked to Brexit reinforced the Europeanization of Maltese foreign policy.