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Malta Cautiously Tilts West
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11887 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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8 / 1987 |
1,628 Words |
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Andrew Smith
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The May 9 election in Malta brought about a change of government that is crucial for the Mediterranean island republic and for the geopolitical balance of power in the region. The island's pro-Western Nationalist Party polled 51 percent of the nationwide vote and ousted the pro-Libyan Socialist Party which had been in office for 16 years. During this period, the country's political and military ties to the West had been gradually loosened in the name of neutrality and non-alignment. At the same time, the Socialists had signed a Soviet-style treaty of friendship and cooperation with Libya, a treaty with North Korea meant to be secret that provided for North Korean arms and training for the Maltese security forces, and a treaty with the Soviet Union that envisaged the coordination of the two countries' positions in times of crisis.
Upon his election, the new prime minister, Eddie Fenech Adami, a 53-year-old lawyer, explained that his government's foreign policy marked a significant break with that of his predecessors. The Nationalists' main objective is to seek the right conditions for Malta's full membership in the European Community, the 12-nation economic grouping of Western European states. Malta already conducts 70 percent of its import and export trade and more than 90 percent of its tourist trade with the EC. The EC also accounts for the largest segment of foreign investment on the island. Full membership in the EC will multiply Malta's institutional links with Western Europe and make difficult its sliding back to a position of anti-Western "nonalignment" should the Socialists ever be returned to power.
While Adami is committed to Malta's neutrality, he realizes that the island cannot ensure its own defense in a hostile Mediterranean environment. The Nationalists do not intend to join NATO or allow any foreign military bases on the island, but they do plan to conclude a treaty with Italy or another Western country capable of ensuring Malta's defense from external attack. The previous Socialist government signed a neutrality agreement with Italy that did not commit the Italians to defend Malta and that in any case was outdone by the more far-reaching friendship and cooperation treaty with Libya and by the frequent bouts of verbal abuse hurled by the Maltese Socialists at the Italians. Adami's policy is to maintain good neighborly relations and economic cooperation with Libya while shedding all the military implications of the previous relationship.
During his years in opposition, Adami forged strong links between his party and the Italian Christian Democrats, the largest party in Italy and the one that has formed the mainstay of all Italian coalition governments since World War II. The Maltese Nationalist Party has joined the European Christian Democratic Union, Christian Democracy International and the International Democratic Union. With the Christian Democrats firmly in power, Adami will be a familiar figure in Rome. He is expected to push for rapid negotiations toward an Italo-Maltese treaty that will make Italy the effective guarantor of Malta's independence and neutrality. He will also rely on Italy to be the godfather for Malta's entry into the European Community.
Relations with the United States
In the meantime, Maltese-U.S. relations have already improved. The Socialists' rhetoric in their newspapers, on the state-run radio, and through their television monopoly was stridently anti-American. In
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