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Despite Anti-Defence Spending Talk, Robert Abela’s Brussels Meetings Show Some Inconsistencies

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Prime Minister Robert Abela may be railing against increased EU defence spending at home but his European meetings in recent years paint a very different picture.

Since even earlier than the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the European Council –  which is composed of EU government leaders, including Abela – has passed several conclusions, including some that explicitly mention higher defence spending.

For example, in May 2021, the Council welcomed the establishment of the European Peace Facility (EPF), a finance instrument for EU defence and military action that was eventually used to provide billions of euro worth of weapons and aid to Ukraine.

Its conclusion said the EU is committed to “acting as a global security provider” and “increasing defence investment”.

From a European Council conclusion in May 2021

From a European Council conclusion in May 2021

A year later, after the Russian invasion, the European Council declared that the EU must “enhance its resilience and increase its security and defence capacity through more and better investments, focusing on identified strategic shortfalls”.

In March 2023, the European Council agreed to consider increasing the financial ceiling of the EPF by a €3.5 billion in 2018 prices, and in June 2023 it formally welcomed the decision to do just that.

The Council also recalled the importance of strengthening the EU’s defence sector in a new environment that requires “defence readiness and a significant increase in Europe’s long-term strategic capacity to take more responsibility for its own defence”.

From a European Council conclusion in December 2023

From a European Council conclusion in December 2023

In December that year, the European Council called for more intensive work to “increase the defence readiness, resilience and security of the union”, including through defence investment.

And in February this year, the European Council reviewed work on military support for Ukraine and the proposed increase of the EPF’s ceiling, calling for an agreement by March.

From a European Council conclusion in February 2024

From a European Council conclusion in February 2024

According to EU law, the European Council has to vote unanimously on issues of common foreign and security policy, which indicates that these texts couldn’t have passed without the support of the Maltese government.

These conclusions don’t include a note that the Maltese government disagreed with any of the text. Neither did Abela ever walk out of a meeting as a sign of disagreement, as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently did when EU leaders discussed plans for Ukraine’s EU accession.

And yet Abela’s rhetoric at home suggests he is against increasing the EU’s defence budget because it is warlike behaviour.

After European Parliament President Roberta Metsola urged the EU to spend more money on defence to “prepare for any eventuality” and the Opposition endorsed her statement, Abela came out strongly.

 

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“While others want EU countries to spend more on weapons, we care about investing in people,” Abela told a political rally on Sunday.

“Wonder of wonders, the Opposition keeps insisting that it wants to spend your money on weapons. Go trust them to lead the country. We need to work strongly to elect PL MEPs who truly believe in the value of peace.”

Should the EU increase its defence budget?

READ NEXT: ‘Five Things I’d Change About Maltese Justice And Prison System Now I Went Through It’

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]

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