We couldn’t really have expected otherwise of the Socialists

Published: November 20, 2012 at 9:17pm

Bad news re Tonio Borg. Not that you couldn’t see that Socialist move coming, or read it in Muscat’s ‘cat that’s got the cream’ expression whenever he spoke about how Labour supports the nomination.

Muscat and his mate Pullicino Orlando have been reading Machiavelli Made Simple. The difference between them is that one can’t help visibly gloating and that tells you he’s up to something.

Anyway, the way it works is this. You support your enemy’s nomination so that you look good and expansive, thereby using your enemy to score an advantage over him, while all the while safe in the knowledge that your objective – of having your enemy rejected – is reached.

If the Socialists and the rest of the intolerant bunch swing it tomorrow, it’s back to the drawing-board for Malta.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Pullicino has told the press that he would not have signed the letter of commitment that Dr Borg was asked to sign. Indeed. And Dr Borg wouldn’t have done most of the things that put Pullicino in the news this year and before that.

Eddie Fenech Adami said the same thing, but he can be taken seriously because he isn’t scum.




28 Comments Comment

  1. H.P. Baxxter says:

    It was bound to happen. We should have sent a secular liberal. Then again, I don’t see any of them among our political class. We may have become European citizens, but we’ve yet to start thinking European.

  2. Albert Farrugia says:

    See what happened? Tonio Borg will be approved. By a small majority yes, but approved nonetheless.

  3. qahbu says:

    The MLP were uncharacteristically supportive. They could never be trusted and this is just another example.

    Go on, Malta – give them a go at running this country “bekaws it is hour tern”.

    You just watch Facebook light up with cynical gloating if Tonio Borg is rejected tomorrow.

  4. Anthony Farrugia says:

    What an embarrassment!

  5. Anthony Farrugia says:

    Please do not treat you readers like fools.

    How in God’s name can you blame this on Joseph Muscat. You atually believe he has that ”power” over the Socialist group? If you really believe he does then he must be one hell of a super diplomat!!!

  6. The Phoenix says:

    Muscat wants his man in now – he who has been his man all along, Louis Grech.

  7. jackie says:

    Your analysis appears to be a deliberate exercise in obfuscation. You have been throwing around accusations of intolerance against Tonio Borg’s critics a bit too freely.

    MEPs are NOT trying to force their views on Tonio Borg (which would be intolerant). MEPs have been asked, by the commission, to accept or reject Borg’s nomination for an extremely powerful and important post.

    If you harbour genuine hopes that people who share Tonio Borg’s world-view should be put in positions of such responsibility, then you should campaign for the election of more conservative and far-right MEP’s across Europe.

    Failing this, get in touch with Lawrence Gonzi and tell him to take a trip to planet earth occasionally before nominating his commissioner candidates. His two efforts so far merit a life-time ban.

    • Dr Francis Saliba says:

      Although it is supposed to be a fundamental universal human right according to the UN Charter that no one should be discriminated against regarding employment on ground of his faith the European Commission is doing precisely that.

      It is obstructing Dr Tonio Borg’s confirmation as Malta’s EU Commissioner undoubtedly because he dares to exercise his other fundamental right to the open observance of his faith. Secularist hypocrites!

      • jackie says:

        Nobody is discriminating against Tonio Borg.

        MEPs are being asked a simple question: “Is Tonio Borg a suitable candidate for a very important international post with the power to affect the lives of people the world over?”

        According to you, answering “No” to this question is discrimination.

        What an individual believes does actually matter, and this should certainly be taken into account when voting for a potential EU Commissioner.

        Of course Tonio Borg is entitled to believe whatever he so wishes. He is also free to exercise his fundamental right of religious observance.

        What he is NOT entitled to do is to take his unsubstantiated beliefs and force people to live their lives accordingly.

        Borg is a special case. He has shown himself incapable of separating his superstitions from his legislative role.

        He has not simply toed the party line on conservative issues. He has gone out of his way to lead a campaign against women’s rights in this country.

        His homophobic views are a matter of public record. This is intolerance. This is discrimination.

        Now he is reaping what he has sown.

        Frankly, seeing Tonio Borg’s track record under this sort of scrutiny is a cathartic and liberating experience. It is a perfect example of why I voted “Yes” to joining the EU in 2003.

      • carmelo aquilina says:

        John Dali and Joe Borg before him are staunch Catholics, so your paranoid delusions don’t stack up, Francis.

        It is not his faith but his pronouncements that are at odds with a commissioner for all Europeans, including many people who do not take orders from the Vatican.

      • Dr Francis Saliba says:

        Anonymous Mr Jackie

        This is a (failed) case of blatant discrimination against Dr Tonio Borg attempting to deprive him of the job of EU Commissioner because he is a Catholic who insists on his UN fundamental universal human right to observe in public the tenets of the religion he is entitled to practice in another article of the Charter. Check in your copy of the Charter.

        Dr Tonio has reaped what he has sown. He has been accepted and acclaimed as Malta’s EU Commissioner by an absolute majority of votes. End of argument.

      • Dr Francis Saliba says:

        @Clo Aquilina

        Dr Joe Borg and J Dalli were Catholics just as much as Dr Tonio Borg.

        They escaped the persecution of the EU Socialists and their secularist allies only because these MEPs are at liberty to choose which Catholics to persecute. Recklessly they targetted Dr Tonio Borg and failed miserably. Prudently they had not even made the attempt in the case the other two Malta appointees.

        They would have been wiser and they would have saved face had they been as discrete in the case of Dr Tonio Borg.

  8. D Gatt says:

    There are 269 PPE MEPs, 190 Socialist MEPs, 59 Green MEPs, 84 Liberal MEPs , 53 Conservatives MEPs, 34 Freedom MEPs, 34 Nordic Green Left MEPs and 29 non attached members in the European Parliament. There is a total of 752 MEPs and Dr. Tonio Borg needs a simple majority of members present and voting (i.e. if all MEPs present choose to vote, then he would need at least 377). An average of 30-80 MEPs abstain in important EP votes.

    If indeed, as reported, all PPE, Conservatives and Freedom MEPs and 1/3 of Socialists vote in favour (i.e. a total of 419 votes in favour), an approximate 2/3 majority of Socialists, all Greens, Liberal and Nordic Green Left MEPs vote against (i.e. a total of 304 votes against) then Dr. Borg would still get comfortably elected. You have to factor in the abstentions though.

  9. Aunt Hetty says:

    I think AD have been in cahoots all along with the Greens, so-called Liberals and other detritus in undermining Dr Borg’s chances all the way.

    Payback time for what that spiteful lot consider as Fenech Adami’s volte-face in that mass meeting at the Luxol grounds on the eve of the general elections in 2003, when they saw their dream of a future ministerial post go down the drain.

  10. the virgosign says:

    Eddie Fenech Adami said he would not have signed, voicing the thoughts of many including me.

    But surely Dr Borg’s nomination was only part of the overall picture for a possible solution for the PN’s situation on the domestic front.

    At this stage he had no choice but to sign to try and settle the issue of Malta having an EU Commissioner while having created a vacant relatively unimportant PN (deputy leader) position, which, if filled by a ‘fresh face’ could help in enticing some ‘lost’ PN voters return to the fold. Possibly even floating voters.

    The MEPs should never have subjected Dr Borg (read Malta) to this humiliation in the first place, though. More important however, Dr Borg is a very worthy candidate for an EU Commissioner.

  11. Gordon says:

    I’m really surprised you haven’t picked on this issue before, Daphne. To me it was obvious that they were completely out of sync with their support for Borg – so it was obvious they were trying to be the good guys to score points with the electorate. They can’t lose any way the vote goes.

    [Daphne – I did mention it before. The clue wasn’t just Muscat’s inability to control his facial expression, it was also in his words: “We are supporting the nomination, but it doesn’t mean he will have an easy time of it. People in Brussels are already looking for information to use against him (then, in a rush), but that doesn’t mean we are helping them of course.”]

    • Dr Francis Saliba says:

      As the Romans said it: Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta (Tr: An excuse that no one asked for (is) a manifested admission)

  12. Turnip says:

    What did you expect?

    With all respect to Dr Borg, how can you vote against divorce when the country voted in favour?

    And if you are intolerant bout divorce how can you be seen as a modern European?

    Dr Borg is a very good politician – for Malta or the Vatican state.

    • Dr Francis Saliba says:

      The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

      Dr T Borg’s nomination has been convincingly approved to the dismay of the loud-mouthed “hodor”, abortionists, gays etc.

      It was done in Brussels, not in Malta or the Vatican State. Evidently Dr T Borg merits as a very good politician are recognized beyond Maltese and Vatican circles.

  13. silvio says:

    I am sure he would have been more admired, by the MEPs, if he had stuck to his principles. Of course they would not have voted for him just the same.

    It must be very humiliating for Tonio Borg, knowing that he went against his beliefs, to please them, and probably he won’t be making it just the same.

    If by any chance he is chosen by a small majority, I hope that Dr. Tonio will not accept the post, knowing that it is against the wish of a large number.

    That will show the E.U that, true we might be the smallest country, but a proud one, and begging favours from no one.

    • Dr Francis Saliba says:

      Is a majority of 105 acceptable to you as a convincingly large majority for Dr Tonio Borg to accept the post to which he was nominated by the people of Malta?

      In spite of your opinion to the contrary Dr Borg has stuck to his principles and he did not go against his beliefs.

      He promised the hostile MEPs that what they saw is what they are going to get. He was voted in because they had no legitimate ground for doubting his honesty.

      • silvio says:

        Yes, I’m pleased that he got a good majority.

        I never doubted Dr.Tonio Borg’s honesty, what I don t agree is that he should have given in to their pressure.

        Now all we can do is wish him the best in his new appointment.

      • anna caruana says:

        Are you living on Mars, he declared he will leave his principles at home.

  14. Eldarion says:

    Socialism, the ideology of envy.

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