Robert Abela and Opposition figures - including leader Bernard Grech and MP Beppe Fenech Adami - traded blows in parliament over a clause in an EU summit agreement protecting Malta’s neutrality.
The tit-for-tat comes in the wake of a European Council vote to increase EU spending on defence.
The vote - which received Malta’s backing - saw Grech accusing the Prime Minister of hypocrisy for supporting the agreement after repeatedly accusing MEP Roberta Metsola and other European leaders of warmongering.
Speaking in parliament on Monday, Abela insisted that he only supported the vote after having secured a written safeguard protecting Malta’s constitutional neutrality.
In reply, Grech accused the PM of “either not knowing the facts or trying to deceive”, saying that that safeguard was part and parcel of Malta’s EU accession treaty negotiated by PN two decades ago.
Fenech Adami doubled down, saying that the Council’s conclusions do not say anything about neutrality and non-alignment: they simply quote verbatim from the accession treaty.
Abela brushed Grech and Fenech Adami’s comments aside, saying he had sought written advice from the State Advocate over the safeguards.
In his remarks, Abela criticised what he referred to as “currents and pressures to increase expenditure on defence, arms, armies and war industry”, warning that of industry actors lobbying with top European officials.
“Malta is in favour of peace, our position is clear. With the safeguard we negotiated we were in a position not to object to the vote and interfere in the decisions of other countries”.
Session heats up as Speaker is told to ‘do his job’
The back and forth became rowdy at times, with MPs on both sides heard jeering in disapproval and hurling comments towards their counterparts on the other side of the aisle.
One lengthier off-mic interruption by Fenech Adami drew the ire of Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri who could be heard telling acting Speaker David Agius “your job is as a Speaker, do you know that? Do your job”.
The comment drew a sharp rebuke from Agius who warned Camilleri to “show respect towards the seat” if he did not want to be expelled from the room.