We should never have exported our problem. Inevitably, Dalli has embarrassed Malta.

Published: October 16, 2012 at 8:26pm

John Dalli should never have been made EU Commissioner. It was wrong to export our problem, it was wrong to give that important position to the most inconvenient person rather than to the most qualified and deserving, and it was wrong because he was clearly unfit for purpose.

The man is inarticulate, boorish, incompetent, and for years had a long shadow of whispered wheeler-dealing over him. His brother Bastjan is a drug smuggler who took refuge in Libya – where John Dalli had an extensive network of business and other contacts under the Gaddafi regime – when wanted by the police. And though nobody is his brother’s keeper, these two are very much in touch and John Dalli had no shame in talking about how his brother in prison had been approached in his cell by a disembodied voice that told him XYZ about John.

While EU Commissioner, he gave a press conference at the start of the Libyan war, suggesting that he was on Gaddafi’s side and that the rebel army were faking their deaths for the international cameras.

While EU Commissioner, he campaigned against the prime minister and government of Malta by appearing on the Opposition party’s television station, Super One, to carp, whine and make all kinds of accusations and allegations.

While EU Commissioner, he shamelessly lobbied in public for the Maltese government to buy an experimental power station from Sargas, appearing again and again on Labour’s Super One to speak in its favour. It was then revealed that he had worked for Sargas as a consultant just before becoming EU Commissioner.

And on and on it goes. Or went.

No, he shouldn’t have been given that job. It’s shameful that the prime minister gave it to him for no other reason than to shut him up and get him off his back. That kind of thing never works, and in any case, you don’t use positions that are in the public good for your own personal convenience.

You especially don’t do that when the person you need to get off your back is somebody like Dalli, because that just means exporting the problem and giving him far greater scope for whatever it is he is inclined to do.

What was the likelihood that he would have behaved himself? Quite close to zero, I would have said, as with the Evil Twins who demonstrate similar behaviour and think of him as – to use Dalli’s own term – their Father Confessor.

Now the inevitable has happened.

And while I am glad that it has happened, because John Dalli has been pushing that envelope too far and for too long, I am angry that he was put in a position where he was bound to give a bad name to Malta.

To the eyes of the watching world, he is not John Dalli, the sleaze-ball politician who was shipped out. He is the Maltese EU Commissioner.

And justifying it by saying ‘Oh, he was always a bit of a sleaze-ball’ cuts no ice, for the simple reason that if we knew he was a sleaze-ball then we should have kept him home.




33 Comments Comment

  1. RJC says:

    Feeling shame for having voted for this guy in the last elections. People like myself believed in him and that he would do good for the country. History has proved otherwise.

  2. H.P. Baxxter says:

    No! I won’t have that! Malta has a fine, ancient tradition of kicking incompetent troublemakers, or simply incompetents, upstairs. The chairman of MCST, for instance. Or Vanessa Frazier. Or the Shipping Lines R Us chairwoman…

    • matahari says:

      Afraid your Vanessa Frazier will get more soon. Once ziju George Vella is in the saddle at the Foreign Office. Then he’ll be in a position to meet her lifelong wish to represent Malta at the White House. She’ll be the best American that Malta has ever exported to Hollywood.

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        She’s already ambassador plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Belgium, aka The Second Best Holiday Posting.

        But Washington, certainly, why not. She could give a press briefing in a summer dress and Saint Tropez celeb sunglasses on day one of Operation Persian Freedom.

        I’ll make her a free present of some briefing notes:

        – Collective effort
        – Many exit wounds
        – Providing humanitarian assistance
        – Monitor the situation
        – Exit wounds
        – Medical attention
        – Important role of Malta in plugging exit wounds

    • Qeghdin Sew says:

      What about Frazier?

  3. ACD says:

    I see a window of opportunity/cunning plan! Debono could be made EU Commissioner, and then Jeffrey could be elected President.

    • La Redoute says:

      Antoine Vella had a better idea:

      Antoine Vella
      Oct 16, 2012 @ 19:34:00

      Issa tkun ideja brillanti li Austin Gatt jilħaq flok Dalli u lil Franco Debono jaqtagħlu l-għatx bil-perżut għax ikollu jivvota favur il-budget.

  4. RF says:

    Will he be appearing on red Norm’s “PL Agenda” this Saturday?

  5. Adrian says:

    Very well said. J Dalli BA shamed Malta.

  6. Emanuel Borg says:

    What a shameless, greedy and c*****t bastard. It is a pity he is not going to be prosecuted.

    All the lobbying for Sargas was all to make money for himself while potentially, if he got his way, it would have been a financial disaster for Malta. Ah well, who cares as long as Dalli gets his cut?

  7. paddy says:

    Who is he going to blame this time?

    You were always 100 per cent right if ever there was any doubt.

    Well done, Daphne. Unfortunately I have heard this ritonello many times now from Mr Dalli.

    It is a shame he was our EU Commissioner. I will solicit Franco and JPO to form a new party with John Dalli now. They both used him with One TV, too.

  8. Enid Blyton says:

    Why are you assuming that the PM sent him to Brussels to get him off his back. The NP is much more cunning and for you not to realise is surprising.

  9. anthony says:

    In my opinion his resignation is an admission of guilt.

    The cliched declaration “to be in a better position to bla bla bla………… ” is pure humbug.

    We have seen this a million times before.

    Humbug.

    Ma nifilhux naqghu aktar ghan-nejk.

  10. A. Charles says:

    Two days ago the EU was given the Nobel prize for Peace and along comes Dalli and the EU is blemished by this fool.

    One consolation is that the prisoner of Brussels is now free.

  11. Jonathan says:

    If John Dalli is sent to jail, will the time he spent in Brussels be deducted from his sentence?

  12. AE says:

    He isn’t known as Johnny Cash for nothing.

  13. David says:

    While the Dalli issue does not reflect well on Malta, in reality OLAF, according to press reports, did not conclude that the Maltese Commissioner committed any wrong act. It appears that the Maltese businessman/councillor is probably guilty.

    [Daphne – OLAF hung Dalli out to dry. What does that tell you about how they think of him.]

  14. miki says:

    I am new to this guy. Sorry. haven’t been around for that long. What is he suppose to have done wrong? I never heard him speak. everyone refers to him as a sleazeball. Why? an incompetent kind of dude. What makes you think so?

    • Kenneth Cassar says:

      Just to give you an idea, miki, consider the fact that this was the kind of person who, as EU Commissioner, defended Gaddafi and made the outrageous claim that the media and the Libyan rebels were faking videos to gain sympathy for the rebels.

      Of course, this had nothing to do with the fact that he and/or his family conducted business in Libya under Gaddafi, and that they stood to lose from the downfall of Gaddafi.

  15. Riya says:

    Trid tkun vera bniedem vili u ma’ tisthix biex il-Prim Ministru jappuntak f’posizzjoni bhal ma’ kellu John Dalli imbaghd twaqqa lil pajjizek ghaz-zufjett b’dan il-moghd.

    Kien zball kbir ghax il-qahba milli jkollha taghtik u kull Malti li ghandu rasu fuq onqu lil dan il-bniedem kien jafu sew u anke lin-nies li jduru mieghu.

  16. Mark says:

    Johnny Cash.

  17. Mattie says:

    ‘A leopard never changes its spots’.

    The saying basically says that these type of people are always going to be the same.

  18. Qeghdin Sew says:

    Another fine specimen from EFA’s cabinets.

  19. Joe says:

    @Mattie
    In Maltese, it sounds better “Hanzir taqtalu denbu, hanzir jibqa!”

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