Cachia Caruana umbraged at Labour motion, ‘I followed government’s orders’

All photos by Ray Attard

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FULL DOCUMENTATION presented to Foreign Affairs Committee

Permanent Representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana appeared before the foreign affairs committee Tuesday evening, to face questions by shadow foreign minister George Vella on his role in the reactivation of Malta's participation in Nato's Partnership for Peace.

Cachia Caruana is the subject of a motion by the Opposition, calling for his resignation.

Vella was adamant in pushing the line throughout his relentless questioning, that Cachia Caruana had bypassed the House of Representatives in proposing that Malta's security agreement with Nato, which it signed back in 1996, were still in force even after Labour sent a note verbale to terminate PfP participation in October 1996.

Cachia Caruana started off with a declaration denying what he termed were "unfounded and defamatory accusations" against him, later adding he felt personally umbraged at Labour's motion, calling it a personal attack.

"I declare under oath, that it is not true I discussed with foreign governments any methods as to the way certain foreign policy decisions had to be taken, without the government's knowledge. Secondly it is not true I endeavoured to seek a method by which to bypass parliamentary scrutiny. These accusations, as stated by George Vella, are false, grievous, and defamatory. Had these statements not been made in parliament, I would have resorted to court action."

Throughout the hearing, Cachia Caruana insisted that his actions were under direct instructions by the Maltese government, and described his role as an interlocutor for the Maltese government to the EU and a 'problem-solver'.

The background to Malta's reintegration into the stream of PfP members was Turkey's ongoing objection to Cyprus - an EU member that was not a Nato or PfP member - having access to classified Nato documents. In the process, Turkey's objection to non-Nato member states having access to this information also affected Malta, which was excluded from these meetings.

Cachia Caruana said it was a proposal by the United States, made to military attaché Major Martin Xuereb (today AFM commander) whether Malta's security agreement was still in force with Nato.

This so called 'procedural bandaid', as it was dubbed in a US embassy cable from the United States mission to the EU, sent to Washington, was the way Nato accepted Malta's argumentation that the security agreements signed in 1996 were still in force and that the country was now reactivating its participation in the PfP.

Cachia Caruana vehemently denied having manoeuvred, in discussions held with a US official from the EU mission, to have Malta become a member of the PfP.

Cachia Caruana said his original proposal did not include seeking reactivation of Malta's participation in PfP: "Between 2004 and 2007 the position of the government was not to join the Partnership for Peace, even with respect to the position held by the Opposition."

Although he did not dispute the contents of the embassy cable, which was sent by US deputy chief of mission P. Michael McKinley, Cachia Caruana urged Vella to consider that the observations did not accurately reflect what was said during his meeting with US political military officer Jeremy Brenner.

"Instead of basing your facts on the actual minutes of the Maltese government or the memoranda to the Prime Minister, your are basing your facts on the opinion of a US official."

On his part, Vella countered claims by Richard Cachia Caruana that his actions were in the national interest. "You are latching on to this notion that the national interest was superior to the will of the people, which had been clearly declared [referring to Labour's 1996 pledge to take Malta out of PfP]."

To this, Cachia Caruana replied: "Maybe government's mistake was that it tried to tackle this measure by taking a halfway measure," insisting that government's decision was not to take Malta into PfP.

Vella insisted that it was a lie that Malta had never withdrawn from the individual participation programme with PfP - which was the argumentation used by the Maltese government that the note verbale sent from Vella in 1996 was not effectively a full termination of the PfP - "This is the spin you have advanced in arguing that we did not withdraw from the PfP," Vella charged.

Vella also asked Cachia Caruana to explain why Michael Frendo, foreign minister from July 2004 to 2008, was apparently not in the loop about Malta's decision to rejoin PfP. "I do not know that he had not been kept in the loop," Cachia Caruana said. "My memos were addressed to him. I assume he was present for the Cabinet meeting of 1 February, 2005, in which the memo I sent to the Prime Minister copied to other Cabinet members."

Throughout the hearing, Cachia Caruana revealed that he had been attending Cabinet meetings since 1991 and insisted with Vella that he had always kept his role as government advisor and party strategist separate.

"If you are implying that I am paid by the State to carry out party work, I can tell you that never has any work conducted for the party overlapped into the time dedicated to my public role."