The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a series of public talks on the relationship between Malta and those states represented by a resident ambassador in Malta. The first two referred to our links with France and the United Kingdom. I too would like to address these two relationships in a contemporaneous setting.
Our relationship with France used to be overshadowed by the Napoleonic experience in Malta. French Ambassador Daniel Rondeau himself publicly stated that when he came to Malta he was given expert advice by some of his predecessors and advisers not to mention Napoleon but the moment he entered my office for our first meeting I put him at ease by mentioning Napoleon myself.
Napoleon’s stay in Malta might have been controversial and his pillaging of our Church treasures not particularly edifying but the general thrust of his military campaigns against absolutist monarchs was a breath of fresh air. His campaigns were not just military, as the Egyptian campaign illustrates, after all, in commissioning a bust of Napoleon in 1858, a British Governor described the military genius defeated by Wellington as Napoleon “the Great”.
But that is history. Today, our relationship with France goes from strength to strength thanks to former Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner’s special relationship with the French Ambassador to Malta. On an annual basis, France is accepting the resettlement of more than 100 immigrants and our cooperation in multilateral and EU fora is close and friendly. In addition, France has embarked on a new interest in Mediterranean matters and President Nicolas Sarkozy’s proposal for the setting up of a Union for the Mediterranean, even though facing enormous teething troubles, will eventually prove to have been a step in the right direction.
Our relationship with the United Kingdom, on the other hand, is rightly considered as special. Not that our links with other EU and neighbouring countries are not close, however, the fact we still retain English as one of our official languages and have throughout our history adapted British traditions in many spheres makes our relationship with Britain not only special but also based on friendship which transcends governments and administrations and remains, intrinsically, deeply rooted within the population.
Of course, historically, Britain remains our former colonial ruler. In effect, there were instances in our history when Anglo-Maltese relations foundered and reached their lowest ebb. Yet, the general popular wisdom remains that the British sense of fairness, pragmatism and common sense and, particularly, British attachment to democracy and the rule of law put our former rulers in the category of benevolent masters.
When I was Minister for Justice in 2006, Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer and his assistant, then Justice Minister in the House of Lords, Lady Catherine Ashton, had taken the initiative to establish an informal common law group within the European Union. Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and the UK met at the margins of meetings in order to imbue EU procedures with the common law spirit not in any crude or crusade fashion but in an attempt to share the wealth and wisdom of common law with our EU partners. Common law is firmly embedded in ideas of justice, equity, fairness and reasonableness, which have beneficially influenced our legal system. Take, for instance, criminal law in Malta, we wisely and conveniently adopted continental law for substance but remained shrewd enough to adopt the libertarian norms and canons of British common law for criminal procedure, thereby adopting the accusatorial rather than the inquisitorial system and introducing trial by jury as early as 1815.
The valiant involvement of Malta in World War II sealed our friendship in common tragedy but also common defence of western Christian values and traditions. The George Cross decoration embedded in our national flag is a sign not of servitude but of gallantry in the service of freedom.
Britain’s support for Malta to join the EU, launched and embraced by former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and fostered and fomented by subsequent Foreign Secretaries, led to further cooperation within the EU following membership. Britain’s support to establish the European Asylum Office in Malta and its acceptance for the first time of a number of protected persons from Malta marked a high point in our relationship which will, hopefully, flourish even further.
My forthcoming meeting with the new British Foreign Secretary, William Hague – a former leader of the Conservative Party and the author of two remarkable books on William Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce – will surely confirm and deepen this Anglo-Maltese relationship. Britain should demonstrate an even deeper interest in the Mediterranean region and our partnership can help in this direction.
There exist a strong sense of mutual understanding between Britain and the Maltese islands and this is demonstrated in the sheer numbers of Maltese and British tourists visiting each other’s homeland without fail, annually. This historical proximity of understanding reveals itself in the increasing levels of trade relations and the linguistic legacy that tie the two nations in a close relationship as to foster the teaching of the English language in Malta as one of the island’s foremost comparative advantages to non-English speaking countries.
The UK and Malta – two member states of the European Union with a common history to share – should provide a permanent platform for further future collaboration with a difference.
Dr Borg of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.