Maltaball

"Please notice me Europe!"

"Malta, are you trying to get people to notice you again?"

- UKball

Maltaball is an very Christianized island countryball and effectively a bystander in world affairs.

He wears the George Cross that  UKball gave him after his extreme bravery in the face of bombs from Nazi Germanyball and  Kingdom of Italyball.

History
Malta has been inhabited from around 5200 BC, since the arrival of settlers from the island of Sicily. A significant prehistoric Neolithic culture marked by Megalithic structures, which date back to c. 3600 BC, existed on the islands, as evidenced by the temples of Mnajdra, Ggantija and others. The Phoenicians colonised Malta between 800–700 BC, bringing their Semitic language and culture. They used the islands as an outpost from which they expanded sea explorations and trade in the Mediterranean until their successors, the Carthaginians, were ousted by the Romans in 216 BC with the help of the Maltese inhabitants, under whom Malta became a municipium.

After a period of Byzantine rule (4th to 9th century) and a probable sack by the Vandals, the islands were invaded by the Aghlabids in AD 870. The fate of the population after the Arab invasion is unclear but it seems the islands may have been completely depopulated and were likely to have been repopulated in the beginning of the second millennium by settlers from Arab-ruled Sicily who spoke Siculo-Arabic.

The Muslim rule was ended by the Normans who conquered the island in 1091. The islands were completely re-Christianised by 1249. The islands were part of the Kingdom of Sicily until 1530, and were briefly controlled by the Capetian House of Anjou. In 1530 Charles I of Spain gave the Maltese islands to the Order of Knights of the Hospital St.John of Jerusalem in perpetual lease.

The French under Napoleon took hold of the Maltese islands in 1798, although with the aid of the British the Maltese were able to oust French control two years later. The inhabitants subsequently asked Britain to assume sovereignty over the islands under the conditions laid out in a Declaration of Rights, stating that "his Majesty has no right to cede these Islands to any power... If he chooses to withdraw his protection, and abandon his sovereignty, the right of electing another sovereign, or of the governing of these Islands, belongs to us, the inhabitants and aborigines alone, and without control." As part of the Treaty of Paris of 1814, Malta became a British colony, ultimately rejecting an attempted integration with integration with the United Kingdom in 1956.

Malta became independent on 21 September 1964 (Independence Day). Under its 1964 constitution Malta initially retained Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Malta, with a Governor-General exercising executive authority on her behalf. On 13 December 1974 (Republic Day) it became a republic within the Commonwealth, with the President as head of state. On 31 March 1979 Malta saw the withdrawal of the last British troops and the Royal Navy from Malta. This day is known as Freedom Day and Malta declared itself as a neutral and non-aligned country. Malta joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 and joined the Eurozone on 1 January 2008.

Politics
Malta is a republic whose parliamentary system and public administration are closely modeled on the Westminster system. Malta had the second-highest voter turnout in the world (and the highest for nations without mandatory voting), based on election turnout in national lower house elections from 1960 to 1995. The unicameral Parliament is made up of the President and the House of Representatives (Maltese: Kamra tad-Deputati), which is elected by direct universal suffrage through single transferable vote every five years, unless the House is dissolved earlier by the President either on advice of the Prime Minister or through the adoption of a motion of no confidence carried within the House of Representatives and not overturned within three days. In either of these cases, the President may alternatively choose to invite another Member of Parliament who invariably should command the majority of the House of Representatives to form an alternative government for the remainder of the legislature.

The House of Representatives is nominally made up of 65 members of parliament whereby 5 members of parliament are elected from each of the thirteen electoral districts. However, where a party wins an absolute majority of votes, but does not have a majority of seats, that party is given additional seats to ensure a parliamentary majority. The 80th article of the Constitution of Malta provides that the president appoint as prime minister "... the member of the House of Representatives who, in his judgment, is best able to command the support of a majority of the members of that House".

The President of Malta is appointed for a five-year term by a resolution of the House of Representatives carried by a simple majority. The role of the president as head of state is largely ceremonial. The main political parties are the  Nationalist Party, which is a Christian democratic party, and the Labour Party, which is a social democratic party. The Labour Party is currently at the helm of the government, the Prime Minister being Joseph Muscat. The Nationalist Party, with Adrian Delia as its leader, is in opposition. The Democratic Party is the only small party which has two seats in parliament; the seats were gained when the Democratic Party contested under the Nationalist Party candidate grouping in the 2017 elections but this arrangement was later terminated in that same year. There are small political parties in Malta which have no parliamentary representation.

Until the Second World War, Maltese politics was dominated by the language question fought out by Italophone and Anglophone parties. Post-war politics dealt with constitutional questions on the relations with Britain (first with integration then independence), and eventually, relations with the European Union.

Administrative divisions
Administrative divisions of Malta

Malta has had a system of local government since 1993, based on the European Charter of Local Self-Government. The country is divided into five regions, with each region having its own Regional Committee, serving as the intermediate level between local government and national government. The regions are divided into local councils, of which there are currently 68 (54 in Malta and 14 in Gozo). Sixteen "hamlets", which form part of larger councils, have their own Administrative Committee. The six districts (five on the main island) serve primarily statistical purposes.

Each council is made up of a number of councillors (from 5 to 13, depending on and relative to the population they represent). A mayor and a deputy mayor are elected by and from the councillors. The executive secretary, who is appointed by the council, is the executive, administrative and financial head of the council. Councillors are elected every four years through the single transferable vote. People who are eligible to vote in the election of the Maltese House of Representatives as well as resident citizens of the EU are eligible to vote. Due to system reforms, no elections were held before 2012. Since then, elections have been held every two years for an alternating half of the councils.

Local councils are responsible for the general upkeep and embellishment of the locality (including repairs to non-arterial roads), allocation of local wardensand refuse collection; they also carry out general administrative duties for the central government such as collection of government rents and funds and answer government-related public inquiries. Additionally, a number of individual towns and villages in the Republic of Malta have sister cities.

Military
Protector-class patrol boats of the Maritime Squadron of the AFM

The objectives of the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) are to maintain a military organisation with the primary aim of defending the islands' integrity according to the defence roles as set by the government in an efficient and cost-effective manner. This is achieved by emphasising the maintenance of Malta's territorial waters and airspace integrity.

The AFM also engages in combating terrorism, fighting against illicit drug trafficking, conducting anti-illegal immigrant operations and patrols and anti-illegal fishing operations, operating search and rescue (SAR) services, and physical/electronic security/surveillance of sensitive locations. Malta's search-and-rescue area extends from east of Tunisia to west of Crete, covering an area of around 250,000 km2.

As a military organisation, the AFM provides backup support to the Malta Police Force (MPF) and other government departments/agencies in situations as required in an organised, disciplined manner in the event of national emergencies (such as natural disasters) or internal security and bomb disposal.

On another level, the AFM establishes and/or consolidates bilateral co-operation with other countries to reach higher operational effectiveness related to AFM roles.

How to draw
Draw Maltaball is almost simple:
 * 1) Divide the basic circle shape into two vertical stripes, white and red.
 * 2) Draw a grey cross on the top-left corner.
 * 3) Draw the eyes and you have finished.

Relationships

 * UKball - Father, raised me..
 * EUball: Gib monies plox.
 * Gibraltarball - Cute baby bro.
 * Cyprusball - Amazing big bro, look up to yuo.
 * Italyball: Am not part of Italia! They has no monies! Tried to steal me from the father in 1942, but failed. Why did yuo send boat full of arabs to me?
 * Tunisiaball  - We both can into Semitic, and lots of Maltese people have come to yuor clay in the past. Yuo are the only Muslim I can of trust, I guess.

Links

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 * 馬爾他球

(Please edit this, so then all the “her”s and “she”s are changed to “him, his and he”.