With Alex Borg leading the Nationalist Party, backed by Adrian Delia and Franco Debono, PN may once again switch roles with Labour in being the anti-Western political party. Alex Borg is an admirer of Donald Trump (seen here wearing his costume at the Nadur Carnival). With the loony-right in command of the Nationalist Party, the party risks taking a turn to populist skepticism about the European Union, a foreign policy that takes a distance from the West and has a total disregard of international norms, values and human rights.
The Labour Party took a more pro-Western stance on foreign policy, effectively turning its foreign policy very similar to the Nationalist Party’s as it removed any taboo about collaborating with NATO including by participating in training. The current Labour government also supports Ukraine without getting involved in the security issue, and recognises that Ukraine is a victim and that Russia is an aggressor that violated international law.
Adrian Delia may also have different views as he conflates “partisanship” with “neutrality”. As explained repeatedly, Malta’s neutrality does not impede the State from taking moral and political sides even in ongoing conflicts. Neutrality only obliges the State not to get involved in a conflict or a war, effectively and by military means. Malta currently backs Ukraine on Russian sanctions, supporting the EU’s contribution to it and by a series of other legal tools such as the Special Tribunal of crimes against Ukraine.
The Labour Party also avoided a serious national risk when Evarist Bartolo ultimately failed to get elected. Under Alex Borg, the PN will destroy what Labour has not yet managed to: a pro-Western foreign policy that aligns with our security and national interests. This whole issue is not just about Ukraine, although it is existentially important to European security: it will also reflect in the way the PN leadership will view the EU, trading with China as opposed to exploring trade with democracies and allied countries and much more.
This is not the first time we had a similar dynamic in Maltese politics. In the 1920s and 1930s, what was then the Nationalist Party was exclusively pro-Italy regardless of international values and norms. On the other hand the Labour Party was pro-British. By the late 1930s, the Nationalist Party was fully aligned with Mussolini’s fascism and his idea of an Italian empire in the Mediterranean, while Labour supported Britain in the run-up to the Second World War.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
Leave a Reply