Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1510125
TELL you what, let's play a lit- tle game. I'll quote a few par- agraphs from a random press article – with all the names blotted out, and no indication of when it was published (or even what it was about) – and you try to fill in all the missing details for yourselves. Ready? Here goes: "[An unidentified Maltese MEP] expressed outrage at [another MEP's] comments that they had 'voted in favour of abortion' in the European parliament this week – arguing that the resolution approved by the EP was in fact about [oth- er issues apart from abortion], and contained only a fleeting mention of abortion in one of its [many] clauses…" Sounds familiar already, doesn't it? But wait: there's more. It transpires that the first MEP had actually "voted AGAINST [my emphasis] the inclusion of a paragraph dealing with abor- tion rights". But this didn't stop the second MEP from "latching onto the fact that they had vot- ed in favour of the ENTIRE re- port, to criticise them for 'vot- ing in favour of abortion.'" Lastly, we were also told that: "In a front-page article the fol- lowing day, [an unidentified Maltese news outlet] dismissed the same EP resolution as one that dealt only with 'the kill- ing of children before they are born'…" Right: now it's your turn to fill in all the missing bits. And because I said, at the begin- ning, that this is a 'game' – im- plying that there is probably some kind of 'catch'– you may already have guessed (correct- ly) that the article was NOT about the events that occurred in Brussels, over the past few days. That is to say: I am NOT quoting from yesterday's re- port, in this newspaper, about Nationalist MEP David Casa's response – to criticism coming from Labour MEPs Alfred Sant and Alex Agius Saliba, among others – that he had 'voted in favour of abortion', by endors- ing a wide-ranging EU resolu- tion about the rule of law in Malta… which just happened to include "one fleeting men- tion of abortion, in its [many] clauses." And yet… the cap sort of 'fits', doesn't it? So before proceed- ing to the big reveal itself: let's just go over what actually hap- pened in the European parlia- ment this week, shall we? Last Monday, an overwhelm- ing majority of MEPs – 437 to 14 – approved an umpteenth resolution on the state of rule of law in Malta: this time, marking the sixth anniversary of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, on 16 Octo- ber 2017. This resolution paid tribute to Daphne Caruana Galizia's "es- sential work in exposing cor- ruption"; it expressed concern on "limited progress" in ongo- ing judicial proceedings on the murder; it accused Prime Min- ister Robert Abela of "down- playing acts of institutionalised corruption"; it demanded "swift and independent investigations and prosecutions of all public officials allegedly embroiled in corruption"… and much, much more. Inevitably, however, it also called on the Maltese govern- ment to "finally enshrine the right to safe and legal abor- tion"; and… this is where all the fun begins. It turns out, you see, that the entire resolution had all along been piloted by David Casa himself. It was David Casa who originally insisted that the Eu- ropean Parliament even debate Malta's rule of law situation, in the first place; it was David Casa who raised all the above arguments (except the abor- tion one, naturally) in his own parliamentary speeches; and it was David Casa who – along with 437 other MEPs – voted to approve the entire docu- ment (abortion reference, and all) last Monday. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then: it was Alfred Sant and Alex Agius Saliba – having so of- ten been accused (by Casa, no less!) of 'favouring abortion', in similar circumstances – who immediately accused the Na- tionalist MEP of… well, 'being in favour of abortion', himself. And oh, look! Later that very same evening, "[One News] dismissed the same EP resolu- tion as one that dealt only with 'the killing of children before they are born' (specifically, un- der the headline: 'The EP votes in favour of a resolution to in- troduce abortion to Malta…') Which brings us back to Da- vid Casa, who responded by: a) "expressing outrage at [Sant and Agius Saliba's] com- ments that he had 'voted in fa- vour of abortion'"; b) "arguing that the reso- maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 OCTOBER 2023 10 OPINION Newsflash: David Casa discovers that his own medicine doesn't taste all that great, after all… Raphael Vassallo