Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1294561
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 OCTOBER 2020 NEWS JAMES DEBONO PRIME Minister Robert Abela's terse replies on Monday morning on his intentions regarding signing a SOFA that could, as one of their privileges, exempt US military personnel from facing Maltese justice, spoke volumes on the unease felt inside the Labour Party and those whose identity was forged by the fiery anti-colonial rhet- oric of Dom Mintoff. It is not just old Labour that is dis- oriented. Labour's first pragmatic moderniser and Dom Mintoff's own nemesis, Alfred Sant's first action in government was to withdraw from the NATO Partnership for Peace agree- ment that had been signed a year ear- lier by a Nationalist administration in 1995. This week the former PM and Labour MEP made his dissent public, declaring a soft spot for the USA but a "greater soft spot" for Maltese sover- eignty and neutrality. Sugaring a bitter pill Abela has clarified that Malta's neu- trality will be safeguarded in any SO- FA, while Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo, himself a survivor from the Sant era, insisted in a belated denial of any fait accompli, that any agreement will still give Malta the right to choose which crimes should be prosecuted in Malta and which could be prosecuted in a foreign jurisdiction. Bartolo's choice of words, while not excluding that some crimes committed here will be prosecuted in the USA, in- dicated that it will be Malta which will determine which crimes will be prose- cuted here or in the USA. "We will be deciding whether anyone hailing from a foreign country who breaks the law here, will have his crime prosecuted in Malta or in another country," he said. This fine distinction made by the for- eign minister may indicate which kind of SOFA agreement is being concoct- ed. For SOFAs come with different nu- ances reflecting the political realities in the country signing up to enhanced military cooperation with the USA. While Abela and Bartolo would like to sugar the bitter pill of a country which prides itself of its republican, constitutional neutrality – despite be- ing part of the PfP after a shrewd and secret move back in 2008 – the reali- ty is that for Labour, a SOFA remains hard to swallow. But even while sover- eignism has been a hallmark of Labour policies, even under Mintoff a prag- matic side to Labour's foreign poli- cy always made it open to deals with foreign powers aimed at securing the island's economic independence. Mintoff the pragmatist Mintoff was so pragmatic in his ap- proach to reach the goal of economic independence that following his split with Paul Boffa, he threatened the British that he was willing to offer up Malta as a military base to the United States if they did not give the Maltese their due from their share of Marshall Aid. Mintoff himself toyed with integra- tion with the UK in 1956, a constitu- tional agreement that would have seen Malta sharing its sovereignty as part of the United Kingdom. Mintoff believed that Malta could not emancipate itself from colonial shackles as long as it was not economi- cally free. Political and economic inde- pendence went hand in hand. He was always aware of the fact that a strong welfare state needed an economic back-up; integration for him was one way of securing this back-up. After being rebuffed by the UK, Mintoff re-articulated his foreign policy vision in an article in the New Statesman in 1958 where he proposed membership in the Common Market for a neutral Malta, which would act as a "Switzerland in the Mediterrane- an". Free of military bases, Malta could serve as a bridge between Europe and the Arab world. Dom Mintoff then started to present himself as an anti-colonial leader in the mould of other leaders like Nass- er in Egypt. Mintoff's ease in shifting from full integration to full self-de- termination is an example of the pol- itician's pragmatism, but one shaped by a principled commitment to im- prove living standards and to shift the economy away from foreign military spending to a national economy based on its own industries. But Mintoff's long-term goal of free- ing Malta from dependence on British military spending was only after he se- cured an additional $50 million in an agreement signed in 1972, prolonging the stay of British troops till 1979. And while Mintoff played brink- manship in the Cold War, anchoring Malta in the emerging non-aligned Is Mintoff rolling in his grave? Sovereignism has co-existed with pragmatism throughout all of Labour's history. But will Labour cross a red line by signing a Status Of Forces Agreement with the American government? Mintoff re-articulated his foreign policy vision in an article in the New Statesman in 1958 where he proposed membership in the Common Market for a neutral Malta, which would act as a "Switzerland in the Mediterranean"