European Commissioner Karmenu Vella at Labour Party club meeting this morning

Karmenu Vella, who resigned his position in Joseph Muscat’s cabinet in 2014 in exchange for a nomination as European Commissioner, was prominently present at a Labour Party club meeting in his hometown, Zurrieq, this morning, where the Prime Minister spoke in his other role as Labour leader.

Muscat was not in the least bit embarrassed by the Commissioner’s unseemly presence. On the contrary, he opened his speech by saying “Mort l-Ewropa u ġibt il-Guy lura miegħi”.

Vella follows the precedent set by his disgraced predecessor, John Dalli, who while European Commissioner appeared regularly on the Labour Party’s television station to rant and rave against Nationalist government policy and Lawrence Gonzi, the prime minister who had nominated him for the post.

European Commissioner Karmenu Vella, right, with the mayor of Zurrieq, Natius Farrugia