Malta should not join Board of Peace, foreign affairs secretary tells committee

Malta should not join Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, as things stand, Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Christopher Cutajar told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday evening.

Cutajar told the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs that, after analysing the board’s charter, it had been deemed to be “not fully aligned” with the United Nations Security Council’s resolution 2803, adopted last November.

A comparative analysis between the two had shown that the board of peace has a “far wider mandate” that goes beyond the UNSC resolution, Cutajar said.

Malta’s greatest consideration when weighing an invitation should be that the mandate needs to be aligned with the UNSC, Cutajar explained.

“The advice today, as things stand, is not to join,” Cutajar said, adding that “the current Board of Peace charter is not fully aligned with the UNSC resolution”.

Describing the board as “a vehicle that may lead to good results,” Cutajar said its 20-point peace plan lacked clarity in some areas, particularly because the plan is not divided into separate phases with clear deadlines.

Even without joining the board, Malta can nonetheless carve out a key role in promoting peace in the Middle East, Cutajar said.

Cutajar also flagged potential conflicts with Malta’s constitutional neutrality, saying Malta’s approach when considering changes in foreign policy is typically “cautious”.

The issue was also being discussed at EU level, Cutajar told the committee, and is set to be raised during a Foreign Affairs Council pencilled for February 23.

So far, Hungary and Bulgaria are the only EU countries to have joined the Board of Peace.

‘There is no invitation as yet’: Cutajar

Cutajar also revealed that while Malta may have received an informal invitation to join the board, a formal invitation is yet to follow.

“As public functionaries, we consider an invitation the moment it is formally received,” Cutajar said,

“Since we did not receive a written invite, it means we have no invite, but that does not mean that there weren’t informal discussions at the political level,” he said, pointing to the Prime Minister’s statement in parliament late last month.

In late January, Abela told parliament Malta was weighing up the prospect of joining the board, having received an informal invitation. The government was seeking legal advice over the matter, Abela said.

The news prompted backlash, including from within Labour circles.

Cutajar explained that, following Abela’s statement, his team had “accelerated” its analysis of the Board of Peace’s charter, so as to be prepared should a formal invitation arrive.