Malta’s position as a neutral state will continue to be respected despite increased EU spending on defence, Prime Minister Robert Abela insisted on Sunday.
He was speaking in the context of having voted in favour of increased EU spending on defence at an EU summit on Thursday, weeks after hitting out at Roberta Metsola for saying she wanted to see investment in the EU's defence set-up.
Speaking in an interview on ONE Radio, Abela said he voted in favour of the EU's plans after ensuring that the final text of the summit's conclusions included paragraphs that protected Malta's neutrality as laid down in the constitution.
The EU summit meeting agreed to “increase its overall defence readiness and capabilities to match its needs and ambition in the context of rising threats and security challenges” and “substantially increase defence expenditure”.
Abela spoke on how, during the summit, he negotiated to ensure that the island’s neutrality and non-aligment were safeguarded. There was no compromise on Malta’s position, he insisted. Had those paragraphs not been adopted, he would have objected to the defence spending plans. He was satisfied that he managed to negotiate what was right for Malta.
Abela also highlighted the agreement between Malta, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia to recognise Palestine as a state when the conditions for the setting up of a state are met.
He said that one could not focus on one war (Ukraine) and ignore another, the one in Gaza.
He said that the agreement called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, and that humanitarian aid must be provided immediately.
No word on who will be Malta's next president
Abela was asked if an agreement had been reached on who would be Malta's next president, to which he replied that announcements would be made at the right time.
He went on to describe the 2020 constitutional reform on the nomination of the president and the members of the judiciary as "historic".
“This was the biggest constitutional reform since 1964," he said, pointing out that from this year, the president would be appointed on the strength of a two-thirds majority in parliament as against a simple majority, which was the case in the past.
He described the talks between him and Opposition leader Bernard Grech as respectful.
Times of Malta revealed last week that former Speaker Myriam Spiteri Debono is the frontrunner to become Malta’s next president. On Sunday, Times of Malta also revealed that the prime minister and the opposition leader had also reached a preliminary agreement to nominate Nationalist politician Francis Zammit Dimech as acting president, whenever the president is away.
Should MPs give the green light on both appointments, parliament is expected to approve Spiteri Debono’s appointment on Wednesday, just before Easter recess, and she will be sworn in as president the week after.