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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 MARCH 2025 War and peace: Labour can now ditch its rhetoric Editorial ROBERT Abela did the right thing to support the conclusions agreed by all EU leaders in Brussels last Thursday on European defence. Whether we like it or not, Europe is at a crossroads – on the one hand Russia pursuing its war on Ukraine and on the other, an erratic US administration that has decided to aban- don its European allies and cosy up to Russia. Europe has no option but to stand on its own two feet and boost its defensive capabilities. The Prime Minister also did well to put his name to the conclusions on Ukraine, which were approved by all member states bar Hun- gary. It is in Malta's interest to have a strong EU capable of defending its own land, sea, air and cyberspace borders. It is also in Malta's inter- est to ensure that a 'comprehensive, just and lasting peace' is achieved in Ukraine as op- posed to simply 'peace'. Talk of peace without embracing the concept of justice plays into the hands of the bully. It was good that Abela tagged along with Malta's European allies rather than going rogue by playing the Trumpian card he had been waving all week. On the previous Sunday, in an interview with one of his own ministry officials, Abela refused to show any form of sympathy with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following the humiliating dressing down he received at the hands of US President Donald Trump in Washington. Instead, Abela played down the incident, opting to call it an "epi- sode" and in his analysis of the Ukrainian war implied that Ukraine will have to compromise and cede territory. Subsequently, in his doorstep comments just before the Brussels summit, Abela once again emphasised that Malta was against increased European military spending and even said the Constitution prevented the country from in- vesting in lethal weapons. The latter statement is wrong, unless we believe that the weapons – limited as they may be – the Armed Forces of Malta possess are water pistols. Evidently, Abela's comments in the days leading up to the summit were an attempt to peddle back on a statement he gave last month that Malta needs to ramp up defence spending and neutrality should not serve as a stumbling block in this regard – this leader agrees with this stance. He had received flak from certain quarters in the Labour Party for these statements. But Abela's comments could also be inter- preted as a petty attempt to spite European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who has been a vociferous European voice advo- cating for more spending on defence and sup- port for Ukraine. The Prime Minister wanted to portray himself as a 'man of peace', as op- posed to Metsola, the 'god of war'. The Prime Minister and the Labour Party can now ditch this rhetoric after Abela put his name to Thursday's Council conclusions in their entirety. This leader believes there never was any- thing wrong with the calls for increased Euro- pean defence spending and cooperation after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia poses an existential threat that cannot be ignored. The situation is worse now when Europe can no longer rely on the US. It would be a mistake for Malta to believe that the risks it faces are negligible because it is a small, neutral country. Neutrality did not prevent Libya from forc- ing Malta at gunpoint to give up oil explora- tion on the Medina Bank in 1980. Today, all it takes is one rogue oil tanker passing through the Sicily-Malta channel to drop anchor and damage the internet and da- ta cables connecting Malta to the rest of the world; or the interconnector supplying elec- tricity from Sicily, to create mayhem. This is not a farfetched scenario. It has happened over the past months in the Baltic Sea. Within this context, it would be foolish for Malta to automatically exclude itself from EU-wide efforts to bolster the bloc's defence capabilities. Malta needs to carry out a review of its de- fence needs and the army's capabilities to fulfil its primary military task of defending the islands, its people and key infrastructure. Based on this review, the necessary invest- ment should be carried out with the help of EU funds. But crucially, the review could al- so suggest what type of defence cooperation Malta may seek with other EU countries in areas where it makes more sense to be part of something bigger. This is not warmongering but a responsible way of strengthening Malta's security in an in- creasingly uncertain world. Quote of the Week "Worst nightmare." A 34-year-old woman recounting in court how four male police officers from the Special Intervention Unit unlawfully stormed her home, cuffed her hands and left her sitting in a chair in her underwear and topless. The woman is seeking damages from the State after it transpired that the police raided the wrong house. MaltaToday 10 years ago 1 March 2015 Cafe Premier owner's lawyer was Lands' consultant STEFANO Filletti, the lawyer rep- resent- ing Café Premier shareholder Mario Camill- eri, was also a consult- ant for the Govern- ment Property Division at the same time that Cities Entertainment Ltd was negotiat- ing with both the government, as well as en- trepreneur Anglu Xuereb to sell their public lease on the Valletta cafeteria. Filletti – unavailable for comment until going to print yesterday – is flagged by the NAO report into the €4.2 million govern- ment reacqui- sition of the Café Premier lease as having played an "ambiguous" role in the affair. The report shows that although the GPD, which paid Filletti a monthly €2,500 retainer until Janu- ary 2014, said the lawyer with- drew from the process in view of his con- flict of interest, Filletti was actually involved at an advanced stage of the reacquisition. MaltaToday has established that in late June 2013, Cities Entertain- ment's co-share- holder, Neville Cur- mi, had reached a deal to sell the en- tire company to Anglu Xuer- eb's AX Holdings for €3.5 million. But on the day scheduled for the signing of the contract, Mario Camilleri failed to show up. The deal fell through. In the background, unbeknown to Curmi, Camilleri was negotiating with the OPM's advisor John Scib- erras, having in June 2013 been of- fered a handsome €4.2 million, net of capital gains tax, for the Café Pre- mier lease. The chronology clearly suggests that Camilleri was confident he would get a better deal from the government, and that he made an attempt to take over the entire com- pany before securing the deal. ...