Local Self-Government in Malta – Basic Issues
Local Self-Government in Malta – Basic Issues

Summary/Abstract: Historically, the Maltese islands have been totally controlled and administered by a central government, except for two short periods: during the French occupation of Malta when there were efforts to introduce a form of local self-government and between 1960 and 1973 when a civil council was created in Gozo. Modern local government was established in the Republic of Malta in 1993. Since 2019, it has a two-tier structure and the units of territorial division are the region and the municipality. Subsequent self-government reforms increased the powers of local authorities, although the scope of their tasks still does not constitute a very extensive catalogue. A significant problem is also the financial dependence of local self-governments on the central authorities. Nevertheless, the analysis of changes introduced so far through successive amendments and reforms indicates that taking action is changes in the right direction and should be continued. The aim of the paper is mainly to present the legal grounds and the form of the current Maltese local self-government. The methods used while writing this paper were the analysis and the comparative methods.

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