Momentum proposals: A Foreign Policy Rooted in Principle

Momentum announces three proposals to give Malta a foreign policy rooted in principle, not convenience.

1. Adopt a Foreign Service Act to professionalise Malta’s diplomatic corps

Diplomatic posts are often handed out as political rewards rather than filled on the basis of qualification and experience. This treats diplomatic positions as favours to be distributed rather than careers that require institutional memory, regional expertise, and networks that are built over years. It demotivates career diplomats, drives a brain drain from the foreign service, and undermines Malta’s ability to protect its citizens and interests abroad. 

Small countries with limited military capabilities can still project serious influence through skilled diplomatic representation, but only if they invest in it. Momentum in Parliament will introduce a Foreign Service Act that establishes a professional and predictable career path for diplomats, with entry through competitive examination, clear qualification requirements, structured rotation between postings, and promotion based on merit and performance. Malta deserves to be represented by its best, not by whoever is owed a favour. 

2. Maintain constitutional neutrality exercising Malta’s duty to speak on human rights violations 

Malta’s constitutional neutrality is a commitment Momentum fully respects. However, neutrality is not silence, and it is not indifference. The Constitution itself demands that Malta “actively” pursues peace, security and social progress among all nations. Momentum in Parliament will speak clearly on human rights violations, war crimes, and the suffering of civilians wherever they occur, without compromising our neutrality. Neutrality means we take no side in military conflicts, not to abandon our moral compass. 

3. Oppose any dilution of the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Convention

Attempts to weaken the Human Rights Convention are often packaged as responses to migration pressure, and represent a fundamental threat to the European rights framework. The same Convention underpins protections for trafficking victims, asylum seekers, and ordinary citizens whose rights are violated by their own governments. Malta must not become complicit in undermining the protections that the Convention was built to guarantee. 

“Malta’s neutrality is one of our greatest assets, but only if we use it honestly. A neutral country that stays silent when civilians are bombed or when human rights conventions are watered down is not neutral but complicit,” says Momentum Leader Arnold Cassola, who is also a candidate on the 9th and 10th districts. “We want a foreign policy built on professional diplomats who earn their posts, and on the courage to say what needs to be said, when it needs to be said.” 

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