The Libyan crisis has thus far demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt at least two very important truisms.

First, when faced by issues of national survival, the current political class can transcend partisan division. Instead of being pusillanimous and acting under the hypnosis of war hysteria, all our politicians stood fast in upholding the national interest. This is a very salubrious political climate indeed.

Secondly, this unison has put an end to the debate about the legitimacy of the neutrality clause in our Constitution.

There are at least two persistent opinions militating against the legitimacy of this clause. One, the clause has become an anachronism, having been superseded by history. And two, it was attained by artifice or under duress.

It is anachronistic, proponents of this school of thought hold, because the end of the Cold War made neutrality and non-alignment redundant. (One recalls Pier Ferdinando Casini’s lecture at the Aula Magna nine years ago)

It was attained by morally dubious means, it is claimed, because the vote on this clause was tied to the majority rule clause.

With regard to the anachronism proposition, it is now self-evident that neutrality has thus far served us well in the ongoing Libyan crisis. The jubilation associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 must have tricked many into considering the Cold War as the end to all wars. The recent unfolding of events in Libya has brought to the fore the age-old wisdom that everlasting worldwide peace is an unattainable dream.

With regard to the coercion argument, even if that were really the case – a point which neither historian nor popular judgment has settled so far – the recent developments in constitutional practice as expressed in terms both of official state policy and of the univocal position spoken with one voice by the entire political class, have meant that the entire political class of Malta has now impliedly ratified the neutrality clause.

It would seem that politics, or history if you prefer, has finally settled the legitimacy debate. The Maltese political class now seems to share the same set of values, in favour of Malta’s peaceful co-existence with all the other members of the international polity.

In the past, we gave our lives and property for the belligerent enterprises of others. Now it seems we shall not be doing the same in the foreseeable future.

This year, Freedom Day should resonate more than usual. We have the freedom to choose to give as much as we can from what we have. One George Cross is more than enough.