Former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, leader of the Campaign for National Independence (CNI) insisted today that Malta must retain neutrality in the Constitution.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said politicians who indicated that the Constitution could be changed should specify their reasons and say the truth.

He did not say who he was referring to.

A few weeks ago, Charles Mangion, acting leader of the Labour Party, said the party was open for “frank” discussions with the government on the Constitution, a comment which was welcomed by Foreign Minister Tonio Borg, who said the government was “all ears”.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the government should say the truth, which was that it wanted to have the Constitution amended because the EU Lisbon Treaty, unanimously ratified by Parliament last year, included a clause which laid down that: “If a member state is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other member states shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their powers in accordance with article 51 of the United Nations Charter.” This, he said, was clearly in breach of Malta’s Constiuttion.

When it was pointed out to him that this clause also said that: “This shall not prejudice the specific character of the security and defence policy of certain member states,” Dr Mifsud Bonnici said Malta had no defence policy and therefore this did not apply.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the constitutional clause on neutrality rather than being weakened, actually needed to be strengthened by laying down that Malta would work for general disarmament and the elimination of nuclear weapons.

The former prime minister said Malta also needed to remain non-aligned and should not get closer to the United States. Rather than a cold war, what the world currently had was a real war, with the constant threat of terrorism and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.