A very short history of the pseudo-neutrality status of Malta
From a blog reader
Time and history are proving me right in believing that the neutrality status of Malta is nothing but a joke: it is best to be defined as pseudo-neutrality. It was a pseudo-neutrality since its inception. A neutrality status that is not worth the paper and ink it is written onto. Our Prime Ministers used this neutrality clause in our Constitution over all these years to suit their political agendas according to the whims of the moment. It is just a joker card used for diplomacy negotiations.
Thus, Malta has had pseudo-neutrality since introducing this clause in our Constitution; why? Let’s go back to the man who introduced it, Dom Mintoff. Malta as a neutral state was not carved in Mintoff’s DNA. Mintoff created this idea of neutral Malta only after 1956 when his bid and crusade to integrate Malta with the United Kingdom failed. After this failure, he went in the opposite direction and “supported” the idea of Malta gaining independence. However, history shows that even in this, he was not utterly convinced since we still had protests from the Malta Labour Party against the Nationalist bid to obtain independence for Malta. These protests from the MLP supporters continued until the very last day when Malta became truly independent on 21st September 1964!
Mintoff only created the neutrality status to have a trump card up his sleeve when it came to diplomatic negotiations with foreign countries, especially with Western ones. In Maltese, we have a saying, “Il-ligijiet jiksirhom min jagħmilhom!”, meaning, “The lawmakers themselves breach their laws!” When things turned hot between Mintoff and Gaddafi, Mintoff ran to Italy to beg military support should Gaddafi invade Malta, with the result that Italy based an army unit in Malta under the name of “Missione Militare Italiana” under the guise of “SAR” (Search and Rescue) duties over Malta’s territory. This unit left Malta only in 2016.
Then came the premiership of Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici. Under his Administration, between 1984 and 1987, Malta’s relationship with North Korea and Gaddafi were strengthened again. However, his antagonism towards the West was only expressed whenever it suited him! Under his watch, North Korean Riot Police were based in Malta to train the Maltese force. These North Korean Riot Police were often on stand-by during P.N.’s mass meetings in the 80s. Then, in 1985 came the tragic event of the Egyptian Airlines hijack at Luqa Airport. Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici refused help from the well-trained Delta Force. Instead, he opted for Egyptian commandoes. All know the result of this decision. It was a historical tragedy of biblical proportions. Then, in 1986, Malta’s Air Traffic radar detected U.S. aircraft approaching the coast of Libya. The Office of the Prime Minister, under KMB watch, warned Gaddafi, with the result that the U.S. mission objective failed to be a surprise attack and possibly kill Gaddafi. After this flagrant breach of Malta’s neutrality pledge, diplomacy with the U.S. worsened. Then in 1986, the Grand Harbour welcomed the first visit of a Royal Navy military vessel, the HMS Brazen. Those in their 50s and over surely remember the welcome given by Maltese boat owners as the battleship entered the Grand Harbour. The grand welcome proved that the Maltese still loved the British and its military force. Despite all the Labour Party rhetoric against the British Government, the British were still welcome in Malta! A Dieu to all the political discourses by Labour about the grandeur of “Jum il-Helsien”, the pseudo-national feast to mark the end of the British military bases in Malta.
Subsequently, in 1987, the P.N. took over Administration under the watch of Eddie Fenech Adami. Diplomacy with the Western counties was restored and strengthened, while progressively, the new Nationalist Government distanced Malta from the Malta Labour Party’s Eastern allies. Instead, Malta started to join military exercises with NATO countries. The Armed Forces of Malta started sending its soldiers for training in Britain and the USA mainly, apart from other NATO countries, but never to the Eastern countries, which were still part of the Warsaw Pact. Malta also received military support from NATO countries, including hardware (weapons and equipment). But, parallel to this, the P.N. administration had a Vice-Prime Minister, Guido DeMarco, who was a hard-core supporter of the Palestinian cause and a friend of Yasser Arafat. This might be the only common factor between Mintoff and the P.N. Unfortunately, a number of events led to the diplomatic relationship between Malta and Israel to deteriorate.
Eventually, the P.N. administration passed over to Laurence Gonzi, whom, during his time in office, the Arab Spring Revolution began. During the anti-Gaddafi Libyan conflict, Malta became an “unofficial British Base” once again. Malta allowed the British military to operate from our island, sometimes under the guise of “evacuation missions,” apart from offering support to other countries’ military aircraft that suffered technical problems. French aircraft were among those receiving assistance during the Libyan crisis from Malta.
In between these events, there was Alfred Sant’s Government. In 1996, Alfred Sant got elected into Government. Though short-lived, in his two years of Administration, Alfred Sant was the prime minister of Malta, most loyal to Malta’s neutrality status. Now, whether this loyalty was the result of his short term in office, one cannot say. But credit should be given where it is due. Indeed, he believed in his ideal of turning Malta into a “Switzerland in the Mediterranean,” Whatever it meant!
Then, MLP’s leadership was taken by Joseph Muscat in 2008. Muscat cunningly noticed the broken relationship between Malta and Israel. Events show that he worked hard on this and took it to his advantage. Moreover, Muscat broke the MLP’s legacy by not supporting the Palestine people and their cause. In his political discourses, he never mentioned them, as if they never existed! Upon his electoral win in 2013, events show that this road bore fruits to him and his Government. This helped him to strengthen diplomatic ties with whoever had the potential to earn Malta money and deals. Diplomacy with new allies did not lack. Nowadays, some of these diplomatic ties are still shrouded in grey clouds. But this is a matter of political opinions, which I will not indulge in since it is not part of the subject of this article.
Malta’s current Prime Minister, Robert Abela, does not believe in the neutral status of Malta. It is evident that for him, this is an irrelevant clause to the extent that he has thrown it into the shredder threefold times!! In the current Ukraine-Russia war, Malta fully supports the West and NATO. News vows for all this.
There are other instances far and in between, but I want to make sure this article remains brief. What puzzles me is why our politicians ever bothered to put the neutrality status of Malta in our Constitution, knowing beforehand that they would be breaching it left, right, and centre on every occasion that may arise. My only answer is that they wanted to take the Maltese nation for a ride, knowing that we Maltese are “Ġaħan” and “Nagħaġ ta’ Bendu“, hence why we still applaud them!
Regards and Sliem!