Opposition suggests discussion on definition of neutrality

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman George Vella said today that Malta needed to continue to respect the principle of neutrality in the Constitution, but there would be nothing wrong in discussing the definition of neutrality in the current scenario.

Speaking in Parliament this morning, Dr Vella said this country should not deceive itself into saying that it was respecting neutrality when that could be a falsity.

Now that EU membership was, following a vote by the people, the central element of Maltese policy, one should consider whether the time had come to consider an updating of the definition of neutrality. This was a process which other neutral countries had also gone through, such as Austria, Finland and Ireland.

The same exercise, he said, could also consider arrangements which Malta could have for suitable defence if needed.

In his speech, Dr Vella insisted that the Maltese Parliament needed to be more regularly consulted on EU issues, not least the common foreign and security policy. Far too many decisions were being taken without reference to the national Parliament. One did not even know what the Maltese defence attaché was doing in Brussels.

Earlier in his speech Dr Vella said that the government and the opposition now had hardly any political differences on foreign affairs, although they could have different priorities.

Dr Vella welcomed the decision by the government to retain a Maltese embassy in Copenhagen and suggested that Malta should open an embassy in Canada, where the potential of relations with that country was not being fully exploited.

He also felt that the traditional good relations which existed with China needed to be better exploited.

Dr Vella welcomed the moves with the United States leading to the removal of visa requirements and double taxation but felt that here too, much remained to be done to attract investment and tourism.

On Russia, he asked what led the Gonzi government to accept a payment of just €6.8 million as final settlement for the building of eight timber carriers built by Malta Shipbuilding for the then Soviet Union.

Dr Vella said that given the long friendship with Libya, he would have expected more progress on issues such as oil exploration, illegal immigration, fishing rights and the excessive bureaucracy and delays for the granting of visas to Maltese wishing to visit that country.

He also asked what progress had been made in the settlement of the median line issue with Tunisia for oil exploration in waters between the two countries. In both Libya and Tunisia’s case, expectations of a settlement had been raised by the Maltese government , but nothing tangible had resulted.

When he spoke on regional affairs, Dr Vella said the opposition backed calls for direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians and also felt that the EU should take a more effective role in this issue. The opposition was also calling for more financial aid to the Palestinians.

When he spoke on illegal migration, Dr Vella said it appeared that the situation appearing to be getting worse. The head of Frontex had also recognised that the mission had not achieved the desired targets. The problem was that Libya was not cooperating in this issue. One hoped that the current EU-Libya talks would bear fruit, although he was not very optimistic. The pilot project for voluntary repatriation was a step in the right direction and he hoped it would gain ground. The opposition reiterated that the opposition was four square with the government on migration, recognising, first and foremost, that migration was a human issue. It would, however, have preferred a stronger burden sharing arrangement with the EU, difficult as it was to achieve.

Dr Vella augured that the new Union of the Mediterranean would gain ground. He argued that it should not be linked with the Barcelona Process, which had not achieved much. It was good that one of the deputy general secretaries would be Maltese and Malta would host a liaison office between the EU and the Arab League.

When he spoke on the EU, Dr Vella said, among other matters, that the government needed to work to ensure that VAT on food and medicines in Malta remained at 0% after the current derogation expired in 2010.

He also spoke on the Lisbon Treaty and said it would be wiser to let the Irish take their time to decide the issue rather than to be prematurely rushed into a second referendum.

In his speech Dr Vella also called for more resources to be allocated to the House of Representatives and MEUSAC to enable them to better consider proposed EU legislation which could impact Malta.