Franco Debono Urges Zelenskyy To Reflect On ‘Neutrality Lesson Malta’s Parliament Taught Him’
Following Volodmyr Zelenskyy’s recent address to the Maltese Parliament, former MP Franco Debono said the Ukrainian President would do well to reflect on the “lessons on neutrality” he received that day.
“The greatest present the Maltese Parliament gave Zelenskyy was the golden declarations about how neutrality is a very good attitude for a country to adopt to avoid entering into trouble, conflict and war,” Debono said.
“Zelenskyy heard a lot about neutrality in the Maltese Parliament and he would do well to chew on what was said.”
“Although Malta is a sovereign country and has every right to join NATO, it has always chosen not to so as to avoid trouble.”
“Ukraine also has a right to join NATO but chose to do so instead of remaining neutral. Then look what happened…”
“Zelenskyy would do well to treasure and reflect on the lessons he learned in the Maltese Parliament. Humility can take you a long way and while those who remain neutral may not come off as macho, they do avoid trouble.”
During his address to Maltese MPs last week, Zelenskyy urged the nation to ban Malta-flagged vessels from transporting Russian oil, prevent Russians from using “golden passports” and dual citizenship, and seize Maltese assets of Russian nationals who are using the jurisdiction to “hide”.
In their responses, Prime Minister Robert Abela and Opposition Leader Bernard Grech stressed on Malta’s constitutional neutrality, although Grech went on to urge the EU to accept Ukraine as a member state.
Malta is one of only five militarily neutral EU member states, along with Finland, Sweden, Austria and Ireland.
However, in a historic foreign policy shift, Finland and Sweden last week both applied to join the NATO military alliance due to heightened security concerns in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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