Muscat visits Luxembourg
Bettel the Strong
Luxembourg’s PM Xavier Bettel was criticized this week for his decision not to attend a farewell dinner for Simona Frankel, the Israeli ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg. Reports in the Israeli and Luxembourg press suggested that Bettel declined the invitation to the dinner in Brussels because of the support for gay conversion therapy by Israeli education minister Rafi Peretz.
Bettel is the PM many would dream of having. Europe’s first openly gay and married PM, he was confirmed for a second term in 2018. During a recent summit in February between EU and Arab states he took Arab leaders to task over the repression of gay-rights. Bettel’s politics is definitely not limited to the LGBT agenda and extends to strong programmes of integration and inclusivity, solid economic planning and a progressive environmental policy.
This week Bettel will be receiving Malta’s PM Joseph Muscat. Muscat and his government love to trumpet their achievements on paper regarding LGBT rights in Malta – achievements that rocketed Malta to the forefront of states endorsing gay rights. The sincerity of Muscat’s government though leaves much to be desired; one could safely say that to a large extent his is an exercise at pinkwashing.
The way the corpus of gay legislation gets bandied about in Malta’s defence against the criticisms on rule of law backsliding in international institutions does leave a sour taste about it all. You get that lasting suspicion that citizen rights is the last thing on Muscat and his governments’ mind.
Bettel will understandably not refuse to meet a fellow EU leader. A few strong words regarding the rule of law backsliding would be most welcome though. After all, Muscat’s weakening of regulatory bodies and his golden passport scheme are a direct threat to all the partners in the European Union – Luxembourg included. Bettel should not let Muscat’s pink mask dazzle him away from the real problems. The danger of the weak back door entry into Europe can no longer afford to be ignored.
Muscat the disgraced
Muscat’s visit in one of his first visits on the continent since failing to clinch one of the top EU jobs at the last EU council meeting. Muscat had made no secret of having coveted one of the jobs available at the latest musical chairs in Europe but left Brussels empty-handed. That night of negotiations, Muscat’s communications aide retweeted that the Maltese PM had been very close to becoming European Council President – a claim that was later denied by political assistants and journalists present in Brussels.
Muscat’s fall from potential new star on the European block to toxic candidate has spiralled quickly ever since he chose to stand full square behind Minister Konrad Mizzi and right-hand man Keith Schembri – both heavily implicated in the Panama Papers scandal. Unlike other politicians around the world, from Iceland to Pakistan to Brazil, the Muscat led-government refused to accept any responsibility for whatever proof was forwarded with regard to possible networks of corruption.
Matters were not made easier for Muscat with the assassination of prominent journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. At the time of her death the journalist had been turned into a pariah thanks to a veritable “witch-hunt” encouraged amongst others by Muscat’s party machine. Caruana Galizia had faced a long list of economically crippling libel suits yet persisted in uncovering scandal after scandal in areas such as public procurement, sale of public assets, sale of passports and the aforementioned Panama Papers scandal.
The journalist’s assassination brought international attention to what had hitherto been a local scenario. Report after report by leading European institutions was published that warned about weak rule of law mechanisms, and the concentration of power in the Prime Minister’s hands. In this context, concerns were expressed on the lack of progress on the investigation into the journalist’s death.
Only this month, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe approved a report on the investigation into the assassination of Caruana Galizia and the rule of law in Malta with an overwhelming majority. It concluded that the situation in the country was so serious it put the whole of Europe at risk. Civil society in the country has been mobilized. Attempts to commemorate Daphne Caruana Galizia and renew calls for justice are constantly thwarted by the Government in the guise of Justice Minister Owen Bonnici.
Muscat’s government sends out contradictory and unconvincing messages of an intention to reform while at the same time refusing to assume any responsibility for the backsliding of the rule of law. Government critics are labelled as traitors of the nation, supposedly because they are attempting to undermine Muscat’s economic miracle that, his government claims, makes Malta “the Best in Europe”. Bolstered by regular positive results from ratings companies, Muscat manages to use the “economic miracle” mantra to hide the obvious faults in the institutional set-up of the nation.
The latest challenge by civil society opposition is in the Maltese courts – a direct challenge to the method of appointment of the judiciary in Malta. Taking their cue from recent developments in Poland and Hungary, the civil society activists are requesting a referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union in order to have the method of appointment of the judiciary thoroughly examined. The judiciary remains the last institution that risks falling to a complete state capture – in a nation where meritocracy is just a by-word for “jobs for the boys”.
Malta’s PM continues to dodge calls for a public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia following the Council of Europe resolution. Under Muscat, Malta has quickly shifted from star performer to the sick soft underbelly of Europe with weakened administrative and monitoring authorities meaning an open backdoor into the European Union for all sorts of shifty business.
