This post is intended for use with the Maltese Democracy walking tour and smart learning activities.
This page is about the political life of Guido De Marco, and lists his achievements and key events.
As Interior Minister and Justice
- Led the reform and modernization of the Police Force and founded the Police Academy.
- 1988 – attended Conference of European Law Ministers in Lisbon, and the Hague (1989).
- 1989 – Introduces Malta into the Pompidou Group (Co-operation group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs) and participated at its meeting of Ministers held in London. Led Malta’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs held in New York.
As Minister of Foreign Affairs (May 1990 – October 1996)
- One of his first acts was submitting Malta’s application for membership of the European Communities in Brussels on July 16th, 1990, stressing Malta’s European vocation. [Photo: Letter of Application to the EEC].
- Underlined the validity of the Mediterranean dimension, promoting and pursuing the principle that the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue was a basic element to regional security and co-operation.
- Consolidated Malta’s active contribution to the work of international organisations – the United Nations, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Commonwealth.
- Introduced several bills in the House of Representatives that integrated important conventions, such as the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law.
- 18th September 1990 was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly (45th Session). In this role he undertook a number of diplomatic initiatives:
- Visit to the refugee camps in the Occupied Territories and Jordan, to Ethiopia and Albania.
- Meeting with US Secretary of State, James Baker during the Gulf War
- Meeting with H.H. Pope John Paul II.
- Invited to Moscow for talks by the USSR Council of Ministers and to the People’s Republic of China.
- Visited the Democratic Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in May 1991 leading to the admission of these two countries to the United Nations.
- Visited Chernobyl, the Czech and Slovak Republic.
- Between 1990 and 1996 he spearheaded other key initiatives in both the bilateral and multilateral fields including:
- The expansion of Malta’s representation overseas
- The conclusion of important agreements in areas essential for economic growth and co-operation. He headed Malta’s delegation to the various CSCE/OSCE Conferences.
- In January 1992, at the CSCE Council in Prague, Malta launched Prof. de Marco’s initiative to declare the CSCE a regional arrangement in terms of Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter, a proposal which was later approved by the Heads of State and Government at the Helsinki Summit.
- He promoted dialogue between the CSCE and the Mediterranean non-participating States.
- Gave particular attention to the Maltese Community overseas visiting Maltese migrants in Australia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and smaller communities in a number of other countries.
Letter of Application to the EEC. By Dans (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Sources
Featured: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Denkmal_an_Guido_de_Marco.JPG
