More bad press – just fabulous
In the German edition of the Financial Times today:
(Nicolas Sarkozy’s) conduct also harms the European Union: the British and the French are now demanding the use of military force in Libya, while the Portuguese and the Greeks continue to receive Gaddafi’s emissaries, and Italy and Malta block all attempts at compromise.
In Tages Anzeiger (www.tagesanzeiger.ch) yesterday:
Commission President José Manuel Barroso (…) pressed ahead and asked for the resignation of dictator Khaddafi: “Colonel Khaddafi is part of the problem not the solution”. Too bad that at almost the same time, Malta’s representative in Barroso’s Commission spread exactly the opposite message. Commissioner John Dalli said that no one has the right to tell Colonel Khaddafi what to do, and that the images of war from Libya may be manipulated. He had to apologize for his comments shortly after.
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Looks like Dalli will self-destruct before Gaddafi (whom he defends), does.
How much more bad press will he get before calling it quits or gets his walking papers?
Does anyone honestly see Dalli calling it quits and walking away?
Has ANY Maltese politician ever resigned over a point of principle or a conflict of interest? I never heard of one because it never happens here, does it?
@Interested Bystander:
As EU Commissioner, John Dalli is not a Maltese politician.
The Swiss paper got it wrong: Dalli is not Malta’s representative. Maybe the government should ask for a disclaimer to be published/broadcast every time Dalli speaks.
He is known as “the Maltese EU Commissioner” so what he says is read as Malta’s real sentiment towards Libya.
This is the man who, as Malta’s Foreign Affairs Minister, lobbied hard for the embargo against Libya to be lifted and who had (ahem) business interests in that country until he just before he was appointed EU Commissioner.
Ah, jahasra, they should have put a huge letter ‘D’ instead of those stars on the podium.