Deadline Dom

A certain aura of predictability surrounded events last week on the tiny (122 sq. mi.) Mediterranean island of Malta. Britain's quarterly payment of $8,325,000 to cover the cost of garrisoning 2,800 troops on the island had been refused by Maltese Prime Minister Dom Mintoff. The fiery Mintoff, in rebuffing the routine payment from the Bank of England, 1) demanded higher rent from Britain; 2) intimated that he would evict the troops unless he received it; 3) flew to Tripoli seeking support from Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi; and 4) tried to con other NATO nations that share in the rent payments into putting more pressure on London. What made the whole thing so familiar was that Mintoff had followed essentially the same script a year ago in a comic-opera confrontation that rocked on for nine months before it was eventually resolved.

At that time Mintoff was trying to renegotiate a seven-year contract covering support payments for the modest British air and naval force that has remained on Malta since the island was granted sovereignty in 1964. Whitehall was paying $12 million a year; Mintoff demanded $72 million and delivered so many eviction ultimatums that he earned the nickname "Deadline Dom." Britain refused to give in to Mintoff's demands. Instead, Whitehall flew special demolition teams into Malta to dismantle the British bases, and it bundled up wives and children and deserted a post where Englishmen have served since Napoleonic days. In the end, Mintoff accepted a $36.4 million annual settlement, with the U.S., West Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Belgium providing most of the increase. The formal signing of the agreement in London was accompanied by champagne. Mintoff drank heartily but British Defense Minister Lord Carrington refused to touch his glass. Relations were serene, however, until Mintoff's latest attempt to renegotiate the contract unilaterally. Last year's agreement, he complained, had been made before the British government allowed the pound sterling to float. Since this resulted in de facto devaluation, Mintoff said, he was actually losing much of what he had been granted last year. If he did not receive more, the British might have to leave.

Latest Ploy. Mintoff has a delicate problem in deciding how far to proceed with his threats. He needs the British on Malta, because the island's economy is staggering. Unemployment is up to 7%, tourism has fallen off and emigration is on the rise. Mintoff's Labor Party holds only a one-seat majority over Dr. George Borg Olivier's Nationalists and would likely lose any election held now. The Prime Minister has not exactly increased his popularity with the 330,000 Maltese by threatening to make them repatriate investments kept abroad, including an estimated $500 million in the United Kingdom. Moreover, Malta is no longer the legendary unsinkable aircraft carrier of World War II. The only strategic reason Britain maintains naval and air groups there is that by doing so it denies Malta's bases to East bloc forces.

NATO would like to retain the Malta lease as cheaply as possible. Last week, as a result, Britain's NATO partners offered Mintoff an additional $2,000,000 one-time increase. At week's end, the Prime Minister had not made up his mind whether to accept the offer. His latest ploy was a rather dramatic attempt to shame NATO into upping the ante. He said that Malta would refuse all payments under the present contract but would magnanimously let the British remain, free of charge. That, at least, was a new scene in an all too familiar script.

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