it's not much of a consolation when you consider how other EU travellers would be catered for if delayed - its not other EU travellers, but travellers to other EU countries. If you are flying from Malta to say Italy, no problem. The issue is the destination, not the nationality of the traveller

Just thought - you only get passport checked once when entering Malta - Hmm? - correct - I presume the first check going out of Malta is not a passport check but an ID check (for which you can use several forms of ID), the 2nd one, for those going to the UK is a passport check

even this sad business with the Shengen Agreement would not put me off - its nothing to do with Malta, its all down to the UK. If the Uk joined Shengen zone, the issue would go

Cheers Mark - thanks for pointing out the true nature of this agreement and yes you're right it really is up to the UK to sign up!

However, I can't understand why the UK are not part of this agreement? After all folks from EU Countries can settle and work where they like in any member Country, so why we're not part of the agreement baffles me.

Maybe one day!

Trev

Trev'

It's because of the 'little england' mentality "keep the pound"......we're British you know..."

m&n,

After Mark clearly explained the situation, what you said is quite right.

After stepping back from the situation my feelings now are that we should completely embrace the EU, Shengen Agreement, Euro etc. It really is our own fault for not signing up to the Shengen Agreement in the first place and surely our currency would be more stable if we joined the Euro with the added bonus of not having to exchange our currency when visiting Malta!

We could of course leave the EU altogether but that decision would obviously make us complete foreigners in Countries like Malta that have been so close to us in the past. I suppose the little englanders will be satisfied then but I just hope they understand what the consequence will be for the UK who would, like Norway who are not in the EU, have no say in the decision making of the EU nations and would would therefore have to abide by whatever the EU says and does - probably to our detriment!

Trev

People keep telling me that it will be to our detriment if we joined the Euro but I keep on being told by our Government things such as retirement age will now be at 70......e.t.c. Let me into europe a.s.a.p.

Joining the Euro won't help the retirement age.

I agree with joining the Euro, just not yet. I'm happy with the political rational, but not the economic one. I don't see sufficient economic convergence between current euro members, never mind euro zone and the UK. If the UK had been in the euro since its inception, the housing bubble would have been worse as euro interest rates were generally lower, whereas the UK wouldn't have been able to devalue the £ in the last couple of years, without which the current economic situation in the UK would be even worse.

Hi Mark,

I guess it would be better to wait until we have a more favourable exchange rate before we join the Euro zone. Of course if you're an ex-pat living in the Euro zone and being paid in sterling things must have been trying to say the least when the Euro strengthened against the £. Perhaps another good reason to adopt the Euro when the times right,

Trev

oh, on a purely selfish basis, I wish UK had joined the euro at 1.50, but it wouldn't have been right for the UK.

Its partly the rate, and partly the timing - the Treasury did a study a few years ago that suggested a rate of 1.25-1.30 was about right - I'd agree with that, but still don't believe the timing is right.

Meanwhile the rest of Europe sails ahead leaving the UK island drifting towards the horizon. The UK just can't accept that any other European country has any good or innovative ideas. I worked in Germany and Austria for 10 years and (fortunately) have been paid in Euros for the last 9 years.

Whenever I visit the UK, on each trip it seems smaller, dirtier, aggressive and basically out dated. The quality of life in many continental European countries (and that includes Malta) is light years ahead of the UK. The problem is that the majority of the UK population have never lived and experienced a culture in another country. They rely on the arrogance of expecting everyone else to speak English and provide the English way of life ( just look at the English gettos in France and Spain). I saw this when I was in Germany for 5 years. The Brits would generally congregate in the "Irish" pubs in the evenings because it was the closest they could get to home and so they wouldn't have to mingle with the locals. I did a German language class for 18 months and not a single Brit was on that class during that time but we had people from France, Bolivia, South Africa, Brazil, Latvia, Lithuania but to name a few nationalities. The Brits had no interest whatsoever of meeting and integrating with the locals. Most would also go back to the UK every weekend, even if they were there for a year or more - quite unbelievable.

There are 60 million Brits and 300 million continental Europeans in the Eurozone (have the Euro as their currency which includes Malta). Therefore it's quite clear that the UK has little influence any more on the economy in Malta since the fall in Sterling doesn't affect the rest of Europe ( and hence Malta).

A lot can be said about us English, I have traveled to lots of countrys for hoildays and if I were to learn all of the lanquages to all the places I have been to I be a genius, but I am not a genius but I do try to learn a few basic words to help me get by when out in the sticks.

It is a well known fact that were, lets call them European cafe/bar or restaurant owners, want our money they can and do speak English to suit them selfs.

I noticed on this summers holiday to Portugal, we went to the town of Tavira and not a resort, this was a town were the locals still get looked after well and the tourist are something to add a bit of money to local economy.

I thought I got on well with the Portuguese lanquage if only very basic, there may be a case for your rant about the way the English do set them selfs up in areas all together, but has not that been the way it has been since us lot started going aboard, you only have to remember that old saying. That when two English people meet abroard they set up a club.

The other thing I would like to remind you of in Malta they have British style pubs run by the Maltese, the same in Greece the Red Lion pub run by Costos the Greek, or the Old Ship Inn in Spain again run and owned by Maguel, these Europeans don't want us in Europe but they do want our money and even if you don't speak the lanquage they still take it from us.

Last I think you would find that if we unlike the Irish we were given a vote on it we would not want to be in Europe or have its money.

Dave.

This is just a personal view.

I have only just caught up with the latest posts on this, however I have to agree with Openminded entirely on what he said and completely buy the fact that not one brit was on the language class, that comes as no surprise to me at all, the uk is vast becoming a huge sewer spewing forth so much filth of every possible kind that our Europen cousins must be only too glad that the uk is an island so that they aren't overly infested with the uk's social diseases and total lack of culture, of which there are far to many instances to mention in here, and anyway I really don't care any more, as long as we are ok that's all that matters to me living in this midden of a country.

We came home from Malta (sniff) last saturday and we had wondered why we had to go through the control again, the reason has fascinated me. I try to have a basic knowledge of the EU but don't know that much.

I don't want the Euro.....I work in a department store can you imagine all the tickets I would have to change? no thanks!!

Hello moo, you should get a job in GAP they have both prices on there labels. And has any body ever noticed that when on Easy Jet if you pay say for a drink in pounds it is say 5.00pounds but if you pay in Euros it it 7.00euros, they are not the only airline to do this are they just taking the micky?

Dave.

of course, that means people with £ are getting a relative bargain

moo - think of the overtime (I worked in a supermarket in the UK in 1979 or 1980 when VAT went up alot, and remember getting triple time working late at night changing prices )

yes but it's all bar codes for the last 20 years. It's a simply update from main computer system to POS (Point OF Sale) system. No work for anyone in the supermarket whatsoever when a price changes on any item, all done centrally and then automatically distributed to the POS system. The bar code on an item never changes even though the prices associated with the bar code of any item can change at any time

Hi Folks,

Back to what I originally posted-although I felt angry at being treated like a second class member of the EU but as Mark pointed out, it really is the fault of the UK for not embracing the EU like the other nations that have already done so. I just wonder what we would be saying about a fellow EU member state who did not have the Euro or the Shengen Agreement if we were actually signed up to them? I guess our attitude would be different and probably quite scathing!

Mind you after agreeing that we are to blame for not being part of the Shengen Agreement I still feel annoyed-but what else could I ever do to change the situation when there are so much ant-EU thinking in the UK? Although you can't generalise I certainly think Openminded & Sliema2 are right with their comments!

Trev

So I get this right. You go through the normal passport control to the shopping area (and for us evil smokers is there still an outdoor smoking area? ) and then you go to the enclosed 'cage' to board you flight? Is that right?

basically yes - its to the far right of departures area, with a "duty free", a coffee shop, another shop (magazines, books I think) and toilets, so a well appointed cage

No that's not right. There is no passport control until you get to the non-Schengen gates. That means, after you show your boarding pass after checking-in, you proceed through security check and then straight into the departure area that contains the duty/tax free and other retail outlets. If you are flying to a Schengen country such as France or Germany, you go straight to the gate without any passport control. These gates are in the same area as the retail outlets. If you are flying to the UK you will need to go to a group of gates that are enclosed and have immigration/passport control. These are gates 11-14 at Luqa airport. Once you proceed through this passport control, you can't get back out to the area enjoyed by the Schengen travellers.