This paper draws on a national lifelong learning (LLL) strategy document to argue that not all EU member states are ready to give up on a more broadened social and community-oriented form of LLL, at least in their policy document discourse. They can appeal, in their policy interpretations, to the 'democratic imaginary' whereby learning, including adult and LLL, is still primarily conceived as a public good. The paper theoretically explores the way the concept of lifelong education/learning developed over the years, from the expansive humanist UNESCO rendering to the more economic-oriented one promoted by the OECD and the EU. Building on the Maltese national LLL strategy document and previous experiences in the area and recognising the 'limit situations' (Freire, 1970) encountered in Malta in the past, I argue for local reinterpretations of LLL. In these interpretations, economic imperatives, as per EU directions, are combined with the idea of adult education, and LLL more generally, as a public good. This can be done by drawing on the best critical traditions of the adult education field.