Last week, while scrolling on social media, I once again came across the famous interview by the prominent American journalist Dan Rather on CBS News with Dom Mintoff in the 1970s. I had shared this clip before, but I thought it was worth resharing. The part I shared concerns Dan Rather’s reference to Dom Mintoff’s remark about thieves when speaking about NATO forces. Dan Rather said that this narrative does not strike Americans as very friendly talk. Dom Mintoff replied that if you still think that you can make friends by depriving people of their freedom so that you can lord it over a region, it is a great mistake, because you cannot achieve friendship in this way.
I have already written about this in one of my opinion pieces back in 2025. My point in revisiting it is not to argue against NATO’s work. Au contraire, NATO can do what it feels is best in the interest of transatlantic and European security, which we are part of in any case under the EU-NATO Cooperation, and which we contribute to that forum. However, my central point is Malta’s neutrality clause and the PL’s longstanding commitment, which remain distinct from NATO’s work. These are rooted in the PL’s supporters’ mindset and the Labour Party’s grassroots, passed down through generations by Dom Mintoff, and in a shared view held by the majority of Maltese people.
Malta has been invited to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly since May 2024. This is not NATO membership, nor does it affect Malta’s constitutional neutrality. The NATO PA is a parliamentary forum, not a military structure. Neutral countries, including Austria and Switzerland, participate to understand security developments, contribute their views to democratic oversight, and engage in Euro-Atlantic dialogue without joining NATO. We already had a similar set-up through the Political and Security Committee of the EU and the North Atlantic Council. When I was posted in Brussels, we often met with ambassadors from the Political and Security Committee of the EU, of which I was Malta’s representative under the Lisbon Treaty, and the North Atlantic Council. These meetings took place four times a year, and we were informed about security developments because the Political and Security Committee of the EU works closely with NATO on different programmes of interest to avoid replicating missions and initiatives. This is why the EU and NATO meet almost every two years to negotiate areas of cooperation.
I always said that the Political and Security Committee of the EU is an important committee that must be given due attention. Frankly, in the past, we used our relationship in Brussels to understand what is happening from a security point of view. Well, the reasons why I left my post in Brussels were twofold. Firstly, I wanted to retrain as an economist specialising in ESG risk within the banking and financial industry, and secondly, it is better left unsaid. Certainly, I did not know that I would end up in politics, with a campaign for the MEP elections in 2024, and another for the general election, the last one being successful in both the second and ninth districts with a casual election. Now that I have been sworn in as a Member of Parliament with the PL, we are offered roles on the backbench, including standing committees chairing, membership, or head of delegations.
The government needs to appoint different heads of delegation, including that of NATO. Notwithstanding that I have ample experience in this area, and security was part of my work in the past, I was always on the side of the EU’s Political and Security Committee, distinct from NATO’s structures. Hence, I conveyed my disinterest in the latter. Certainly, I appreciated the nomination to become a member of the Economic and Financial Standing Committee, as well as a member of the Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence Affairs Standing Committee. The reason I appreciated these committees is that I shied away from the topic of security and defence in the past years, as stated in a recent interview. Technically, the topic of security and defence is essentially controversial unless you bow to certain debatable requests.
Indeed, I will focus my expertise as a member of the Economic and Financial Standing Committee and continue writing and sharing my ideas on aspects relating to the economy, sustainability (ESG) and now also Artificial Intelligence and information technology. And if they need my expertise on the Sustainability Standing Committee, I am happy to help, too. To conclude, the clip of Dom Mintoff with Dan Rather gathered over 120,000 views on my social media in less than four days. This shows that Dom Mintoff and the NATO topic remain highly relevant, as many people still agree with Mintoff’s views 50 years later, in 2026. And frankly, hailing from Bormla, Dom Mintoff remains my idol politician!
