On the initiative of Arnold Cassola, Alternattiva Demokratika spokesperson on EU affairs, five Green Members of the European parliament brought up the issue of nuclear leakage in May 2000 by the British submarine HMS Tireless in the vicinity of Malta.

The five Green MPs are Italian Monica Frassoni, Briton Caroline Lucas, German Angelika Beer as well as Spaniards Raul Romeva and David Hammerstein.

In their parliamentary question, Alternattiva Demokratika and the five Green MEPs asked the EU Commission and Council to divulge all information on this case.

The Green MEPs pointed out that while the UK authorities have continued to state that this was only a minor incident with no harmful effects and no further information has been disclosed, recent independent investigations suggest that the incident might have been far more serious than admitted by the authorities, AD said in a statement.

Large quantities of radioactive-contaminated water was released into the sea at the time of the incident, it added. The incident occurred while the submarine was on its way to Gibraltar, where it was repaired despite the protests of local and regional institutions.

Moreover, the Greens queried whether the Council was informed by the UK government of the precise location in which the incident took place, on the amount of radioactivity leaked and how close or far from the coastline was the submarine when the incident occurred.

With regard to the future, the Maltese Greens – through their European counterparts – asked the following question, as the Mediterranean waters continue to be used for the passage of nuclear submarines, how sure can the Council be that such incidents will not occur again?

“Would the Council agree with the point of view that in the perspective of the European Security Strategy, it would be wise for nuclear weapon states, both EU member States as well as the USA, to stop using the Mediterranean and other narrow waters as a channel for this type of vessels?”

Prof. Cassola stated that through such parliamentary questions, Alternattiva Demokratika not only wants to shed light on what really happened in 2000 and what danger (if any) is posed to the waters in the vicinity of Malta and to the people swimming in them but also wants to lead the way to a healthier environment in the future, meaning, a nuclear free Mediterranean sea.