Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1285850
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 SEPTEMBER 2020 OPINION Yet strangely, only a few weeks later – i.e., on July 10: when the Bulgarian street protests had already been rag- ing for some time – the same Manfred Weber publicly stat- ed that: "The EPP Group fully supports the Bulgarian govern- ment of Boyko Borisov and its efforts to protect the economy against the negative effects of the Coronacrisis, fight against corruption and the progress that is being made to join the Eurozone." Contradiction, much? And do I even need to explain why Weber's stance on Bulgaria was (and still is) so very differ- ent from his earlier stance with regard to Malta? (I'll give you a small hint: you'll never guess which EP political bloc Bor- isov's GERB party belongs to…) And OK, granted: in the in- terests of fairness, it must also be pointed out that there are a few (somewhat rare) examples of other MEPs who actually do use the same yardstick when it comes to judging other EU member states. Like Sven Giegold of the Ger- man Green Party, for instance: who has criticised Bulgaria in more or less exactly the same 'brutal' way (his own word, not mine) as he has repeatedly torn into our own country since 2017. But what about the EP as a whole? Where are all the EP reso- lutions condemning Bulgaria over its rule of law situation (which, as attested by the above quotes, is actually far worse than Malta's)? And how many special 'rule of law' del- egations have been despatched to Sofia, anyway? As things stand, the only dis- cernible reaction to the Bul- garian crisis was a four-hour EURACTIV meeting on 28 August: chaired by Dutch MEP Sophie In' t Veldt (interesting- ly enough, the same MEP who headed all those delegations to Malta); and to which Bor- isov himself was invited… but didn't even bother to show up. Emerging from that meeting, In' t Veld herself seemed to ad- mit it was a waste of time. Her exact words were: "Our group will follow-up on corruption in Bulgaria and we will send addi- tional questions to many of the participants because we did not have time to go into details." Not exactly the same tenac- ity and commitment she had displayed when rigorously (and repeatedly) passing Mal- ta through the shredder, is it now? But then again, I suppose it's a whole lot easier to be 'tough' and 'uncompromising' with a tiny, inconsequential little country like Malta… than with a country whose Prime Min- ister seems to be best buddies with all the highest-ranking European Commission mem- bers; and who has been de- scribed (by Politico) as "a key ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European leaders…" Which, of course, brings us to another of our old friends: Frans Timmerman, the EC's Executive Vice-President. Like Weber before him, Tim- mermans seems to think that there are actually two European Unions, not one. There is the EU that we are part of – i.e., the one that is supposedly guided by the principles of good gov- ernance and the rule of law… and where member states that fall out of line are scrutinised, publicly skewered, and merci- lessly pressured to reform (as emblemised by Timmerman's own claim, in April 2018, that "We will keep pushing the Mal- tese authorities"…) … and then there's the EU inhabited by his own personal buddies: like, of course, Bor- isov himself… whom Timmer- mans publicly praised in July 2019 (significantly, during a meeting to solicit the Bulgarian PM's support for his own nom- ination to the European Com- mission). On that occasion, Timmer- mans told Borisov: 'I have al- ways expressed my admiration for what you are doing in the fight against organised crime and corruption. We have had many frank discussions about that. And that is the basis on which I value our friendship…." Well, what can I say? I have no doubt Borisov 'values his friendship' with Timmermans, too. It has, after all, spared his country all the European cen- sure and condemnation that was so liberally dished out to Malta over the past few years; and it has also clearly stopped the European Commission from 'pushing the Bulgarian authorities', as it had done so forcefully – and effectively – in Malta's case. On the contrary: Commis- sion spokesman Christian Wiegand's only reaction to the Bulgarian crisis was to say that: "We support the right to peace- ful protest" – Duh! – and… erm… no, that's it, really. When pressed by journalists for an official European Com- mission position – of the kind the Commission is usually on- ly too happy to give, when it comes to other, less well-con- nected countries – Wiegand simply 'declined to comment any further'. Hmmm. Faced with glaring contradiction of such astro- nomic proportions, I can only conclude that Malta must have accidentally joined the wrong European Union, way back in 2004. Instead of becoming part of a small coterie of like-minded countries – which always cov- er up for each other's corrup- tion, and whose members get to enjoy limitless impunity for their mafia-style crimes – we ended up becoming the whip- ping post for all the other EU's outrageous hypocrisy and dou- ble-standards. But still: like any other mis- take, I suppose it can always be rectified, if (or when) the time comes…