The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 drastically changed the global political scenario. Although the invasion was unwelcome, it had long been coming.

Most of the media, in fact, failed to give importance to the fact that the war in Ukraine has been going on since 2014 after a nationalist coup brought down a government which had friendly relations with its Russian neighbour.

This triggered an immediate separatist schism in Crimea and in the Donbass regions where the vast majority of the population is ethnically Russian. Russia swiftly took military action to quickly annex Crimea but, for some reason, did not do likewise in Donbass.

Between 2014 and early 2022, fighting between the Ukrainian military trying to reclaim the Donbass region and Russian-backed separatists was almost a daily occurrence.  This war prompted some countries to reconsider their neutrality.

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO and Finland has already been granted membership.

Even the Irish and Austrians have been discussing their historically neutral status; although it doesn’t seem that they will be changing their neutral stance anytime soon. Interestingly, there doesn’t appear to have been a discussion of this sort in neutral Malta.

Although some local intellectuals have raised the issue of discussing our neutrality in view of the fast-changing world after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it doesn’t appear that there was any serious discussion at a political level.

Malta should remain open to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees

Malta is a small island with only a small military force. However, its strategic geographical position in the middle of the Mediterranean is another matter. The British knew this very well and they made excellent use of our strategic location during their rule, most especially during World War II. However, this came at a hefty price because Malta was heavily bombed by the Axis powers.

Looking at our history, irrespective of Malta being neutral or not, I believe that it will lead to a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario. In World War II, Malta was bombed because we were a British colony hosting a crucial military naval base in the middle of the Mediterranean. However, had Malta been an independent nation, I’m certain that our neutrality would have been violated with an Italian or German invasion.

Malta gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and the country’s neutrality was enshrined in its constitution in 1987. During the Cold War, Malta joined the non-aligned movement in 1973 and remained part of it up until 2004 when Malta joined the European Union.

I believe that having remained neutral throughout the Cold War was a good decision by Malta. If, God forbid, Cold War tensions had escalated into nuclear war, Malta might have been the target of a nuclear attack were it not neutral. Nevertheless, our neutrality would not have guaranteed that it would not have been violated by any of the superpowers.

After the Cold War ended, there were some instances where, strictly speaking, Malta was breaking its own neutrality. This was done by allowing warships of several nations to berth at Valletta harbour and, especially, during the civil war in Libya, where both Nationalist and Labour administrations allowed the French to monitor the situation in Libya, receive up-to-date information and even allowed the French security services to aid anti-Gaddafi rebels via Maltese territory by providing them with communication equipment and, perhaps, other resources.

In the current political scenario, I believe that it would be best for Malta to remain politically neutral. However, Malta should remain open to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees, regardless of their nationality, political creed and ethnicity.

Christopher Camilleri

Christopher Camilleri is a civil servant and IT consultant.