Malta must be in a position to safeguard its exclusive economic zones

Malta gave a clear indication of its intentions to exploit the sea around it when parliament unanimously approved the law enabling government to declare maritime exclusive economic zones. 

Nonetheless, two years down the line, the legal notice identifying which areas at sea will be declared as Malta’s EEZ has not been published. This means that despite the legal framework being in place to create these zones, Malta has taken no follow-up action to effectively outline these zones. 

The EEZ is a maritime zone beyond a country’s territorial waters where a coastal state has special rights to explore, exploit, and manage natural resources. 

During the parliamentary debate on the EEZ law, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana had said the zones Malta would identify will fall in the stretch of water between 12 nautical miles (the stretch of sea up to 12 miles is deemed to be territorial waters) up to 25 nautical miles. 

Caruana had insisted that this did not mean Malta will develop all this stretch of sea but define individual EEZs within this area depending on the projects being considered. 

Formalising Malta’s EEZ will give potential investors peace of mind, he had said. 

But Caruana had also told parliament that there will be no projects on Hurd Bank, which is a shallow area in international waters off the Marsaskala coastline used for bunkering purposes by ships. “We do not want any of the new projects to disrupt this important location for the shipping industry.” 

Within this context, the first offshore projects being considered are floating wind turbines but the exact locations have not yet been identified. Much will depend on the feedback received from an international call issued by the energy ministry earlier this year for offshore floating wind farms. 

Malta’s conservative approach to consider exclusive economic zones up to the 25-mile mark around the islands is unlikely to impinge on conflicting maritime claims by neighbouring countries. We are not privy to any representations made by third countries following the Maltese parliament’s unanimous approval, although the northernmost area does brush Italy’s southernmost reach. 

But an issue that cannot be overlooked once Malta does define the EEZs is the country’s ability to provide surveillance and security for these areas if circumstances require so. 

Government sources, who spoke to MaltaToday, have confirmed that the designation of the EEZ will entail security obligations. “While the EEZ does not entail the same kind of sovereignty as territorial waters, one cannot simply leave major economic infrastructure unprotected,” a source told this newspaper.  

In light of the recent incident involving the humanitarian aid ship Conscience, which was allegedly attacked by two drones in a suspected Israeli military operation to disable the ship, Malta cannot overlook the need to invest in its defence and security capabilities. 

The ship incident was also preceded by an Israeli military aircraft circling over Hurd Bank, outside Maltese territorial air space but well within its flight information region, several hours before the claimed attack took place. While the military aircraft appears to have been within its international rights, the manoeuvring at such a low altitude over Hurd Bank should have raised alarm and prompted some form of response—flying an AFM aircraft in its vicinity to show that it is being monitored, could have been one such response. 

The Armed Forces of Malta must have adequate sea and air assets, coupled with sophisticated radar technology to be able to monitor and respond to potential threats, including vulnerable maritime infrastructure. 

By air assets we do not mean fighter jets—it would be ridiculous to even consider that. But having drones should not be something out of reach. 

But even without offshore wind farms, the country today has subsea infrastructure that delivers electricity and provides valuable internet connections to the rest of the world. 

The country has to be in a position to defend these assets if required. 

This is why it would make sense for Malta, within its limitations, to participate in EU initiatives to strengthen European security and defence.