Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1297549
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 OCTOBER 2020 OPINION make him 'ashamed to be Mal- tese' are in any way unique to Malta. After all, we are not just talking about 'selling passports' here… but also rampant cor- ruption; repeated international condemnation of our rule-of- law situation; political impuni- ty; a level of criminality that is embedded into our institutional system; complaints about the judicial process, freedom of the press, etc., etc. – No offence to any Greek read- ers of this column, of course, but… last I looked, that sort of thing was not exactly alien to countries like Greece, either. In fact, I seem to vaguely remem- ber a certain financial crisis that erupted there just a few years ago… caused, as it happens, pre- cisely by decades of governmen- tal corruption, mismanagement and maladministration… But that was just an aside. The real problem, I fear, is a good deal more insidious than that: for while Bernard Grech him- self is busy hiding his true na- tionality behind a fake one… the party he leads is equally busy defending another European member state – this time, Bul- garia – from precisely the same accusations levelled at Malta on the rule-of-law front. By now you will surely have read reports about the latest European Parliamentary resolu- tion regarding Bulgaria; and you will no doubt also have spotted certain similarities with the EP's analogous (repeated) condem- nations of Malta over the past four or so years. You will also be aware, then, that all three of the National- ist Party's MEPs voted against the Bulgarian resolution – and therefore, by extension, in fa- vour of the beleaguered (EPP) Bulgarian government; and also that Roberta Metsola in particu- lar – that's right, the same MEP who had insisted so vehemently on references to Malta, even in resolutions that did not origi- nally mention our country by name – tried to soften the im- pact, by watering down the final document through a number of 'amendments'. This, for instance, is the first paragraph of the original draft (and also the final version, as Metsola's amendments were all rejected): "[The European Parliament] deeply regrets the fact that the developments in Bulgaria have led to a significant deterioration in respect for the principles of rule of law, democracy and fun- damental rights, including the independence of the judiciary, separation of powers, the fight against corruption and freedom of the media…" And this – incredibly, it must be said – was how Metsola (un- successfully) tried to 'amend' it: "[The European Parliament] notes that there is an increas- ingly deteriorating political climate marked by ongoing polarisation within Bulgarian society and between the main political actors and decreasing trust in public institutions; wel- comes the news, as observed by the Commission, that Bulgaria has provided public access to the property and interest dec- larations of senior public office holders; welcomes Bulgaria's legal framework to combat con- flicts of interest…." Likewise, the paragraph which ended up as: "[The EP] is deeply concerned by the fact that some systemic issues in the judiciary system identified by the Euro- pean Court of Human Rights and the Venice Commission re- main unresolved…" would actu- ally have read as follows, if the Nationalist MEP's amendments were accepted: "[The EP] welcomes the pro- posal for constitutional amend- ments, which aim to address some systemic issues in the judiciary system identified by the European Court of Human Rights and the Venice Commis- sion…" And on it goes: every single time the European Parliament expressed 'concern' over cor- ruption and maladministration in Bulgaria, Roberta Metsola tried to somehow turn it into a statement of 'praise' for the Bul- garian government. Even more bizarrely, howev- er: the same Roberta Metsola who so lovingly quoted every last detail of the Venice Com- mission's critical reports about Malta, now seems more keen on deleting – or 'censoring', if you prefer – every single reference to the same Venice Commis- sion's negative findings about Bulgaria. Does she even realise, I won- der, that in so doing, she has also openly cast doubt on the validity of the Venice Commis- sion's Malta findings… if not the entire Venice Commission itself? (For let's face it: if its con- clusions about Bulgaria were worthless enough to be discard- ed altogether… why should we attach any importance to its recommendations about any other country: including our own?) But then again… well, that's the whole point, right there: things like the 'Venice Commis- sion' only have any value, inso- far as they can be used as politi- cal weapons against the Maltese government… and even then, only when the Maltese govern- ments happens to be occupied by a political party that is not the PN, or any other member of the European People's Party. And by exactly the same token: all the 'shame' and 'embarrass- ment' people like Bernard Grech and Roberta Metsola claim to feel about their own nationali- ty… all of it suddenly evaporates in a puff of smoke, when dealing with foreign countries (no mat- ter how corrupt or otherwise in- defensible) which are governed by their own political allies. All things considered, then… yes, I'd say there a quite a few things these people should be ashamed of right now. But 'be- ing Maltese' isn't one of them… All the 'shame' and 'embarrassment' people like Bernard Grech and Roberta Metsola claim to feel about their own nationality… all of it suddenly evaporates in a puff of smoke, when dealing with foreign countries (no matter how corrupt or otherwise indefensible) governed by their own political allies Nationalist MEPs Roberta Metsola and David Casa (left); EPP group chairman Manfred Weber with his close ally, Bulgarian PM Boris Borissov