Oops!

The European Parliament vote that determines whether Tonio Borg will make it to EU Commissioner might turn out to be a nail biter after all. We already knew that the liberals and the greens would be exercising their right to not believe that Tonio Borg’s track record in government can do the trick for him in the EP. We expected the socialists to have been truly charmed by the erstwhile politician’s performance in the Q&A plus the reds in parliament do have a way of  “power sharing” with the EPP as we had seen with the sharing of the Parliament presidential chair. The socialists voted on Champion’s league night and the vote was a surprising Nyet to Tonio.

What the socialists also chose to do is to give the parliamentarians a free vote. We all know what that means – Joseph Muscat seems to be quite a fan of that one. It was strange to see Edward Scicluna’s disappointment at the formation’s official position – he went so far as to describe it as condescending. Notwithstanding what some spin pundits in Malta are repeating ad nauseam this is not a question of imposing liberal opinions on someone who very evidently does not share them. This is about obtaining guarantees from Tonio Borg that he will not let his own personal views (to which he has every right) come in the way with his duties as commissioner. Many are still not convinced. Even after his reply to the 7 commitments that were requested of him it is evident that he has been unable to convince the most sceptical.

I have had occasion to mention this before and will do so again. The nomination by the PN government carried its risks. The problems being faced by Tonio Borg were not completely unpredictable. Interestingly it is also an accepted modus operandi in Malta – a nod to conservative inertia – that is on trial in tomorrow’s vote. A rejection might be a disappointment for Malta’s parties – both the conservative and the pseudo-progressive … although I am quite sure that Joseph has harboured a wish for Borg’s failure throughout the process. Tonio might just scrape through or he may not. Will any lessons be learnt from this experience? Probably. And that is what we can hope for at most as our country’s “progress” unfolds.