Ever since Evarist Bartolo failed to get elected in the 2022 general elections, he became a part-time anti-NATO and anti-“Western imperialism” activist, having even been invited by the Turkish government to vent his anti-Western grievances. It’s very unusual to have an ex-Labour Party minister traveling to conferences making statements and positions that go contrary to his successor from the same Party. It’s as if Evarist Bartolo is trying to undermine the policy of his successor, apart from confusing the foreign public on who actually is Malta’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. It’s also strange because Varist spent his life in the education sector, but all of a sudden he became a foreign-affairs expert.
Recently, Evarist Bartolo took umbarage at the current Minister for Foreign Affairs Ian Borg for having signed further agreements with NATO with regards to Malta’s membership of the Partnership for Peace Programme, namely the Individually Tailored Partnership Programme (ITPP) and the Planning and Review Process (PARP). These programmes, which are available under the Partnership for Peace Programme, will serve the Armed Forces of Malta to specialise further in specific tasks and capabilities and expand their training in specific areas of defense. In principle, Malta is doing nothing irregular, scandalous or even noteworthy with these programmes because Malta actually recieves military aid from the various Western countries, apart from engaging in various training and educational exercises bilaterally with allies. Ireland, which like Malta is a neutral and non-NATO member-state, is also a signatory to these programmers and treaties.
It is in our national interest to seek help from Western allies to strengthen our defense forces and there is nothing controversial about this. So there is no need for an “anti-imperialist” diatribe by a previous Foreign Affairs Minister about this, let alone an attempt to undermine the Foreign Minister about it. As usual, however, Varist doesn’t tell the full truth with his infantile platitudes. Despite his infantile and stupid platitudes, one of Varist’s last actions as Minister for Foreign Affairs was to actually renew the Partnership for Peace Agreement with NATO in January 2022 – not with Parliament’s approval as proposed by the current incumbent and Minister for Foreign Affairs, but by executive order with his signature along with that of the Prime Minister’s. Back then, Varist didn’t announce this and didn’t write any platitudes against NATO.
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