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James Debono
The Maltese government is not excluded it has granted airspace rights to US aircraft participating in military activities, but insists that airspace rights are only granted on a case by case basis. The issue should have raised concerns over Malta’s neutrality but the Labour party traditionally vociferous over ‘neutrality’ issues is remarkably silent.
The new US ambassador’s declaration that Malta has granted “some airspace rights” to the US military in a Times interview raised a number of questions but explanations offered by the Maltese government and the US embassy raise another fundamental question.
Has Molly Bordonaro got carried away in her enthusiasm for her new host country by giving undue importance to a routine practice, or did she really go beyond her brief to reveal a state secret?
Bordonaro was quoted as saying: “Malta has also allowed our naval ships to come here, and has given us some airspace rights as well. So we have worked very closely and our two militaries also work very closely on specific issues.”
Both the US embassy and the Maltese government have not excluded that Malta has granted airspace to US military craft participating in military activities.
US embassy spokesperson Jeffrey Anderson told MaltaToday evasively that “not only US forces but the military services of other nations conduct a wide variety of activities in the Mediterranean region,” when asked whether US aircraft involved in military activities had been given airspace rights.
A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Michael Frendo was equally evasive, saying Bordonaro “may have been referring to permission which is granted to individual requests from countries whose military aircraft would be flying through our flight information region which stretches over a large area of the Mediterranean.”
The foreign ministry has refrained from stating on which occasions airspace rights were granted to the US military, as well as nuclear-capable aircraft.
No permanent agreement on airspace rights has officially been reached by the two nations. The foreign affairs ministry said it was Malta’s policy not to grant blanket clearance for military aircraft to “overfly” the flight information region. Not even EU member states have been given such permission, the ministry said.
The US embassy said clearance for airspace was “typically general in nature and quite routine – particularly for countries located at common crossing points” and that Malta has acceded to US requests for airspace rights on a case-by-case basis: “All sovereign nations retain unto themselves the right to say yes or no to flight vehicles transiting their airspace.”
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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