The UN Secretary General puts Joseph Muscat down politely, and the government so doesn’t get it that it issues a boastful press release instead
The government’s Department of Information press release is faithfully reported on timesofmalta.com. It includes Ban Ki-moon’s put-down, meaning that the prime minister and his advisers did not understand that it was, in fact, a put-down (“Get yourself a sense of perspective, Mr Muscat. A hundred thousand people have died in Syria and seven million have had to escape – and not to Malta, either.”). See below.
——
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this afternoon explained the burden of ‘illegal’ migration in the Mediterranean has put on Malta to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
During a meeting in which he was accompanied by Foreign Minister George Vella, Dr Muscat insisted that the status quo was not an acceptable choice and said this was why Malta was insisting for just and concrete solutions with its partners in the EU.
The Prime Minister spoke on factors which had to be addressed, including the involvement of Somalia and the control of Libya’s frontiers.
The Secretary General said the United Nations appreciated Malta’s role in this challenge.
He also spoke about the humanitarian situation in Syria as a result of a conflict in which 100,000 had already died and seven million had to escape.
He said there was a need for a political solution for the situation not to continue worsening.
Dr Muscat met Mr Ban Ki-moon in New York where he is attending the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
6 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/malmstrom/refugeerelocation/
Here’s another put down the “press” decided to ignore .. 7th paragraph can’t be any more cringeworthy …
Exactly what I thought when I saw the article
Muscat takes his parochial mentality to the ultimate international stage, and Ban Ki-moon diplomatically tells him to “wake up and smell the coffee”.
Why am I not surprised that Muscat’s men didn’t get it?
Why isn’t the press chasing Mrs Mizzi herself, too?
The New York and other overseas trips by Muscat raise two suspicions.
First, I find it extremely hard to believe that the deals with China, Kuwait, and Libya came into being shortly after March 2013. It is impossible for government to come up with the idea, contact the top people involved and negotiate these long term arrangements smoothly and without a hitch. Humans are, after all. self interested and opportunistic and, therefore, we would expect conflict.
Countries do not move that quickly unless what is being promised is too lucrative an opportunity to miss on both sides.
Unless, of course, these agreements are simply letters of intent that do not bind the parties in any way and that say nothing except Country X and Country Y would like to trade and develop sector A together. (If this were the case then, so what’s the big deal with the arrangement?)
However, I doubt this is the case. I believe that although the agreements may be at memorandum of understanding stage, most of the details of the exchange transactions have been already hammered out with precision.
Suffice it to say that with respect to this first point, there must have been a pre-election arrangement protracted over a couple of years, and Labour must have been bank rolled by the ‘powers that be’. Now these gents are calling in the favour. This is, however, pure speculation.
Second, I am extremely uncomfortable with a government announcing these things overseas rather than doing so first in Malta, where journalists can be right in there. Is there something to hide? Or is Muscat unable to face journalists? Not that anyone bar a few are showing any sort of teeth.
I am not sure what to make of these suspicions.
The agreements came into being after March 2013 but they had been long in the making.
Unfortunately, Malta’s issues appear insignificant in comparison to other more urgent and violent ones. However, the situation in Malta is an emergency.
The number of illegal immigrants flooding into the country, shows no sign of ever stopping. Malta can help a few, Malta can help many, but she can’t help all the Africans who want out.
It’s time for the world to stabilize even small corners of that great continent, root out corruption, control the violence, and smother the despots who always seem to have free range there. Perhaps more Africans would want to stay put.
So, to the UN Secretary General who summarily dismissed the PM of little Malta, look at Africa, now there’s a problem!