“I did it to protect the honour of my Commission” – Jose Barroso on sacking of John Dalli

The Brussels newspaper New Europe was the only one to come out fighting in John Dalli’s defence immediately he was sacked (“forced to resign”) by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

It spoke to him in the immediate aftermath, and let him run on and on in a video interview. Then it took up the cudgels on his behalf, protesting at the unfairness with which he was treated.

But after Giovanni Kessler’s deposition in Malta’s Court of Justice last Monday, even New Europe has changed its mind about Dalli and has more or less apologised for defending him.

It didn’t know all the facts, it says – but given the facts exposed by Kessler in court, it now sees things differently.

It also describes how its editor met Barroso by chance at an airport and they got to talking about the matter. “I did it to protect the honour of my Commission,” Barroso told the editor about the way he dismissed Dalli.

And I thought, then Malta’s prime minister sat him at his right hand as a consultant, which demonstrates how little he cares about the honour of the Maltese government. “It’s legal, so whether it’s right or wrong is irrelevant.”