Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/364850
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 AUGUST 2014 16 News the Medical School. In the long hot summer of 1977, there was no end to Mintoff's hard-nosed nego- tiations with the Europeans, now resorting to break talks with the Italians after waiting too long for concrete guarantees. In June that year, he imposed a new ultimatum on the French and the Italians, saying he would go public with "accusations of non-perform- ance against France and Italy in a way that would unduly jeopardise their dialogue with Malta." Mintoff also demanded a meeting with Andreotti on a Rome visit for a trade delegation, just days before going to meet MDC chairman Joe Cassar on his yacht in Dubrovnik: but ambassador Da Rin says "An- dreotti has sent word he does not want to see Mintoff." In a new revelation, Da Rin also tells the Americans that the Libyan ambassador in Malta had told him an alleged draft Mintoff had de- tailing Libyan readiness to support Malta economically and militarily "are Maltese versions which do not as yet have any binding character as far as Libya is concerned." In September 1977, in protest at Franco-Italian delays, Mintoff broke off talks with the Italians after he failed to get an agreement with the Italians on his way back from a visit in Munich, via Rome. "Mintoff had apparently hoped to complete talks with Italians at that point… when Italians responded that summit meeting was prema- ture, Mintoff came back with 24- hout ultimatum saying that GOM was no longer prepared to accept any postponement in talks and that if no Italian response was forthcom- ing by 2pm on 21 September, the GOM would ask the GOI 'to forget the Maltese neutrality proposal and thereafter focus on more conven- tional ways' of continuing relation- ship," Laingen wrote. Laingen noted that no such threat was made to the French, with Min- toff having correctly not mentioned turning totally towards the Arab world. "We doubt the current epi- sode means that Italy can escape the fate that geography has imposed on it – being the country that Mintoff will continue to expect to be his principal advocate in the European and Western context and thus the country whose ambassador here (poor Eric) will feel the heat more than any of the rest of us." Mintoff instantly set himself on giving Da Rin the cold shoulder, and courting West Germany into becoming his primary interlocutor with the EEC and as Malta's prima- ry aid donor. Mintoff and his minis- ters also went on trips to the UAE, Pakistan, China and Indonesia, as well as Syria, Lebanon, and Yugo- slavia in a bid to court financial as- sistance anywhere he could find it. But his control on the foreign af- fairs portfolio meant that not even his foreign secretary, Maurice Abe- la, could sell well enough Mintoff's concept of neutrality to the Swedish government. "The visit to Stockholm of Mau- rice Abela did not lead to any partic- ular results. As was expected, Abela took up the question of Swedish as- sistance 'but our reaction was nega- tive'," Laingen quoted a note from a Swedish ambassador as saying. "Most revealing of all is the para- graph in the Swedish ambassador's note on Malta's own neutrality concept – for which presumably Abela assumed and expected sym- pathy from interlocutors who are established practitioners of the art. Regrettably, the Swedes found Abela either unable or unwilling 'to clarify his government's precise in- tentions'." Why, Laingen asks himself – his guess: Mintoff's tactic of keeping one's opposite number guessing, and the way "he runs this place in ways suggesting a personal fiefdom" means that not even his ministers could speak independently on Mal- ta's neutrality. "Abela probably doesn't know the answers to some of the questions posed by the Swedes. "And, finally, neither probably does Mintoff, especially in the light of his presently interrupted dia- logue with the Italians and French – a dialogue to which Mintoff will no doubt return, with vigour and with renewed threats about going solo with Libya." 'Mintoff's tactic of keeping one's opposite number guessing, the way he runs this place like a personal fiefdom, means that not even his ministers can speak independently on Malta's neutrality' Busy running the world - but Dom Mintoff's negotiations with Italy and France kept the United States Secretary of State busy making sure that any Arab influence or Soviet military presence around Malta is prevented. Above, Giulio Andreotti visits the White House in 1977, seen here with President Jimmy Carter. Below: Secretary of State Cyrus Vance with Carter, and bottom, Mintoff with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, whom he used as a bogey-man during his European negotiations 1977 Even at the White House, Malta is on the agenda during Giulio Andreotti's visit to President Jimmy Carter