Neutrality ‘very important’ to Maltese

Two-thirds of Maltese have said they consider neutrality – a hallmark of Dom Mintoff’s foreign policy legacy – as “very important” for Malta, with 80% saying it is “important”.

This emerges from a survey among 600 respondents commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and conducted by statistician Vince Marmara, which throws a light on the way the Maltese perceive the world around them.

Only 2% considered neutrality as not important at all or not important (3%). Moreover, the feeling that neutrality is important for the country is shared across all educational and income brackets, in an indication of vast political consensus for a concept first contemplated by Mintoff in an article penned in the New Statesman in 1959, in which he outlines a vision of Malta becoming a “Switzerland in the Mediterranean”.

Malta’s status as a “neutral state actively pursuing peace, security and social progress among all nations by adhering to a policy of non-alignment and refusing to participate in any military alliance” was inscribed in its Constitution as amended in 1987. The cornerstone of this policy is that “no foreign military bases” are “permitted on Maltese territory”.

But the survey suggests that despite widespread agreement with neutrality, the Maltese tend to associate this concept with abstaining from taking sides in international conflicts, rather than rejecting participation in military alliances, as clearly outlined in the Constitution, which does not preclude Malta from taking principled foreign policy stances such as its support for the Palestinian cause.

Indeed, when asked what they understood by neutrality, 32% replied that it “means taking no side with any other country especially in conflicts”; 24% said it means “to be independent of other countries”; and 16% think it means “being friends with everyone”.

But in another confirmation of Mintoff’s lasting legacy, “peace in the Mediterranean” is considered to be Malta’s most important foreign policy contribution in an era which had included the rapid advancement of globalisation, forced migration, climate change and transnational crime. In 1973, Mintoff single-handedly launched a campaign to include the Mediterranean region in the measures being taken to promote peace and security in Europe in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

Maltese reputation abroad

The survey also suggests a level of concern with Malta’s international reputation, with most attributing reputational problems to the FATF greylisting.

While 13% think Malta has “a very good reputation abroad”, 15% think it has “a very bad reputation”. And among the latter, 56% attribute its bad reputation abroad to its greylisting by FATF.

But while very few Maltese (13%) think Malta has a “very good” reputation abroad, a significant amount think it has a relatively good reputation. This includes 17% who gave it a reputational score of 4 out of 5; and 37% who gave it a reputational score of 3 out of 5. On the other hand .19% gave Malta a score of 2 out of 5.

Significantly concern on Malta’s reputational issues is highest among higher-income groups and the tertiary educated. While those falling under the 0% tax bracket give Malta’s reputation abroad an average score of 3 out of 5, those falling under the 35% tax bracket give it an average score of 2.

And while those with a primary level of education give Malta’s reputation abroad an average score of 3.2, this falls to 2.9 among those with a post-secondary or tertiary level.

Malta’s ‘special relationship’ with UK

Respondents were also asked to rate Malta’s relationship with nine different countries, namely China, the USA, the UK, Russia, Italy, France, Germany, Libya and Turkey.

The survey suggests that the Maltese believe Malta is closest to Italy, the UK and Libya, and most distant from Turkey and Russia.

And despite greater Chinese investment in the energy sector in the past few years, relations with the Asian giant are deemed to be less close than those with European nations, and nearly at par with relations with the US.

Curiously, despite Brexit when asked which relationship is most important, it is Britain closely followed by Italy which gets the highest score of 4.6 out of 5.  Significantly China and the USA are considered less “important” than Britain and the EU members mentioned on the list.  This suggests that at popular level, Maltese foreign policy expectations remain Eurocentric or anchored in the historical affiliation with the UK and Italy.

Respondents were also asked on Malta’s respect towards international law, in particular with regards to migration. On this aspect, the survey suggests that despite international criticism by human rights NGOs who documented Malta’s role in the pushback of migrants to Libya, only a small minority think that Malta is in breach of international law.

But the survey also suggests that the perception that Malta does not respect international law on migration issues is again relatively stronger among the tertiary-educated and amongst higher-income groups.