Prime Minister Robert Abela said during the first Parliamentary session of 2026 on Wednesday evening that if the EU had chosen to finance Ukraine with frozen Russian assets, as initially expected, then the European Union "would have entered a war - an economic war at least - with Russia."

In Wednesday's plenary, Prime Minister Abela discussed the European Council Summit in which the leaders of the EU's Member States discussed several regional matters, including how to finance Ukraine in the face of continued Russian aggression during a period where Ukraine, as a country, "almost went bankrupt and paralysed," in Abela's own words.

Abela admitted that the EU's financing of Ukraine over the next two years was, in his view, "one of the most technically complex decisions we had to take, and one of the most difficult decisions I had to personally take at the European Council level."

Abela told the Maltese Parliament on Wednesday that during this December summit, leaders from all across Europe were being asked to support a financing instrument that would have exposed Malta to "limitless" damages. He added that when the Maltese delegation asked to what extent of damages Malta could have been exposed to, had the Ukrainian financing been backed by frozen Russian assets, "no-one could provide an answer."

PM Abela stated that during these discussions, while "everyone wanted to help Ukraine," some countries wanted to use this financial support as an opportunity to "provoke and attack Russia."

The Prime Minister noted that after studying what the proposed financing tool consisted of, as well as its potential repercussions, Malta had submitted a written declaration that it was against this kind of instrument, before the European Council meeting commenced. Belgium, Bulgaria, and Italy also shared this same position before the formal meeting began.

In this regard, PM Abela told the Parliament of Malta on Wednesday that after this official position was shared, though before this long European Council meeting had concluded, Opposition leader Alex Borg was in an EPP meeting that same morning, where Abela said he voted contrary to the submitted Maltese position on this financing of Ukraine.

"God forbid we moved on [Borg's] opinion," the Prime Minister remarked.

Here, Abela said that if Malta had supported using frozen Russian assets, as he claimed Borg voted in favour of that same day in an EPP meeting, then "Russian retaliation would have been immediate."

Abela, in a jibe towards Borg, told the House that while it is good to say we support Malta, during sensitive moments of voting, "we cannot vote against Malta." He followed up by saying that while he understands how intimidating it may be to oppose what neighbouring "giants" are pushing within these fora, "that's what we did" in the European Council.

"This is the danger of giving a vote to people who don't understand the importance of these votes," the Prime Minister said, "I am not exaggerating on the repercussions of what would have happened if we ran with the current and kept moving along with what the majority and the European Commission wanted. We could have had incredibly large repercussions; maybe the largest we've ever seen."

He expressed his satisfaction that PN leader Alex Borg now applauds Malta's taken position during this European Council summit, and affirmed that the joint debt loan worth €90 billion that was agreed upon conforms with Maltese neutrality and its long-term defence position.

The Prime Minister also stressed that Malta proceeds with caution before it expresses a position on international tensions between the United States and Greenland, Iran, and Venezuela. Hence, he implied that Malta should wait for the EU to issue an official statement on this issue before then declaring its national position.

Leaders of both major parties expressed their solidarity to the people of Iran. Abela said that Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg is in the works of imposing sanctions against Iran due to emerging affairs there.

Alex Borg stated that supporting Ukraine is not just a question of solidarity, but one pertaining to European security and international order based on rules. He added that for neutral Malta, it is essential that Ukraine's given financial support recognises legal safeguards and specific security and defence policies of individual EU countries.

"Europe must continue to support Ukraine decisively," he said.

He acknowledged that the timing of this European Council meeting happened in a time of great global uncertainty and in a period of strategic re-alignment for Europe.

"These acts don't just reflect the challenges we are facing now, but they are also shaping the EU's role in the world over the next decade," Borg said.

Borg concluded by stating that Malta must remain a credible and reliable European partner, with a foreign policy based on peace, dialogue and respect for international law.