"The people of Malta, by their positive vote, have taken an historic decision to join the great European family," Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou said in a statement.

Greece currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

"We hope the referenda to follow in other applicant countries will likewise be positive so that the (EU) enlargement process and their membership can proceed without pitfalls," he said.

Malta, the smallest of the 10 countries that have completed membership negotiations, was the first to hold a referendum seeking public endorsement for EU membership by May next year.

Fifty-four percent of voters said yes to EU membership in Saturday's vote.

Slovenia is next, with a poll on March 23, followed by Hungary on April 12. Malta would be the EU's smallest state, dwarfed even by Luxembourg.

Some 297,000 people were eligible to vote in the referendum. A massive 91 percent, or 270,650 people, turned out to cast their ballots.

But the referendum is non-binding and will have to be validated by a general election. Prime Minister Eddie Fenech-Adami on Monday called an election for next month, capitalising on the victory of his 'yes' campaign in the referendum.

EU membership is expected to be the dominant theme of the election campaign, which could see a repetition of the bitter partisan politics that characterised the referendum.

Fenech-Adami asked President Guido de Marco to dismiss parliament and called a general election for April 12, just four days before the 10 countries in line to join the EU sign their accession treaties.

Brussels, which had feared a 'no' vote could have triggered a similar rejection in the other would-be members, welcomed the outcome and urged the archipelago to bridge its political divisions over the issue.

Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen remained optimistic.

"I very much hope that it will be possible to overcome the political division in Malta after the referendum," he said.