EU countries are agreeable to Malta opting out of any defence spending obligations the bloc might impose on its members, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said on Wednesday.

“Just as we respect the position of other member states, we expect other countries to respect our constitutional obligations. Many of the ministers from the member states agree with this concept,” Caruana told parliament on Wednesday.

EU leaders last week agreed to collectively boost defence by 800 billion to "re-arm Europe" against the perceived threat from Russia.

Since then, Caruana said, finance ministers from across the EU have met in the council to discuss how that funding will take place.

Caruana said Malta’s position is clear: it has no objections to EU countries spending more on defence and will even allow collective efforts at rearmament through joint bonds.

But Malta will retain that position only if it is allowed to step aside and stay completely out of that process.

“Do what you must, invest in what you must, as long as you leave us the option not to participate.”

Caruana said that even Central and Eastern European countries agreed with Malta’s position.

The minister said member states disagreed on how to go about increasing defence spending.

“Several big countries disagree with joint expenditure,” Caruana said.

Caruana also said EU countries will have to figure out how to find the money to finance defence spending since many EU economies are not growing.

Finance ministers are discussing either increasing taxes or cutting welfare expenditure, while others argue that the EU’s debt and deficit requirements should be relaxed, he added.