page_title: Eddie Fenech Adami
section_title: Prime Minister (1998–2004)
hierarchical_section_title: Eddie Fenech Adami / Prime Minister (1998–2004)
caption_attribution_description: DR. GEORGE ABELA HAS BEEN SWORN AS THE NEW PRESIDENT OF MALTA AT THE PALACE' S GRAND COUNCIL CHAMBER IN VALLETTA, MALTA 4th. APRIL 2009
context_page_description: Edoardo "Eddie" Fenech Adami, KUOM GCIH OMRI GCB is a Maltese politician and Nationalist politician who served as Prime Minister of Malta from 1987 until 1996, and again from 1998 until 2004. Subsequently, he was the seventh President of Malta from 2004 to 2009. He led his party to win five general elections, in 1981, 1987, 1992, 1998 and 2003. Staunchly pro-European, Fenech Adami was fundamental for Malta's accession to the European Union.
  Originally a lawyer, Fenech Adami was co-opted Member of Parliament in 1969. He served in a number of senior party positions, including president of the Administrative and General Councils, and was elected to succeed Dr Giorgio Borġ Olivier as party leader. From April 1977 onwards, Fenech Adami led the Nationalist opposition in a campaign of civil disobedience against the Mintoff and Mifsud Bonnici administrations of the late seventies and eighties, focusing on a message of respect for democratic principles and human rights.
context_section_description: Malta's European Union application, which was put on hold by the previous Labour government, was reactivated and negotiations were concluded by December 2002. Fenech Adami successfully led the pro-EU movement in the 2003 EU membership referendum campaign, and won the successive election. He signed Malta's Accession Treaty with the European Union on 16 April 2003, and represented Malta in various EU Summits and Commonwealth meetings. In December 2003, he received the European of the Year 2003 Award from the influential Brussels-based newspaper European Voice in recognition of his unfaltering efforts to bring Malta into the European Union. Fenech Adami resigned as Leader of the Nationalist Party in February 2004, resigning his premiership and giving up his parliamentary seat on 23 March 2004, thus becoming the longest serving Prime Minister since Malta's independence.
caption: Fenech Adami saluting the crowd in St. George's Square on the day his successor, George Abela was sworn in.
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