So the Loony Left in the European Parliament has rejected Tonio Borg’s nomination as European commissioner. This was to be expected and is no big deal as long as part of the Socialist group vote in his favour.

One should, of course, keep in mind that the Greens and the so-called Liberals are not “Europe they represent a mere extremist fringe that, together with the far right and the Communists, is grossly over-represented in the European Parliament because, throughout the member states of the EU, many moderates do not bother to vote in the EP elections.

At any rate, the Prime Minister was right to select Borg as commissioner-designate and to disregard the threats of the Greens and Liberals; their intolerance is essentially a form of bullying and the only way to react is to stand up to them and defy their bigotry.

Nominating a “less controversial” politician – as suggested in Malta by the Labour Party and Alternattiva Demokratika – would have meant appeasing the extremists and effectively legitimising their moral violence.

The strategy that Malta opted to adopt obviously carries a certain amount of risk and, at the time of writing, it is still uncertain whether Malta’s nominee will ultimately be accepted as European commissioner. It is, however, a risk worth taking because the issues involved go beyond the individual politician.

Borg’s nomination is an implicit but clear declaration of principle – that is, the right to hold and express an opinion – that I, for one, completely support and uphold.