Now in the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, the Labour government is proposing reaffirming the PfP agreement it had staunchly opposed in 1995 – Alfred Sant pulled Malta out of the NATO programme immediately upon his election in 1996. In 2012, under Joseph Muscat, Labour deftly managed to draw Cachia Caruana into its parliamentary crosshairs, by accusing him of manoeuvring Malta’s 2008 reactivation in such a manner as to bypass House ratification. Little to no discussion took place on the proposal to retain Malta’s participation in the PfP, save for Fenech Adami’s intervention. By arguing that the prior PfP agreement ‘remained in force’, Cachia Caruana was proposing something in direct contrast to the “unconditional withdrawal” stated in the 1996 letter to NATO from then Labour foreign minister George Vella. In 2008, the PN reactivated Malta’s PfP a day after the elections, as a rudderless Labour reeling from its loss and Sant’s resignation was unable to offer a political response.
