The endorsement yesterday by the European Parliament of Tonio Borg’s nomination as Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs went some way to restoring Maltese faith in this institution.
Given what Dr Borg had to go through in recent days, his approval by 386 votes in favour, 281 against and 28 abstentions can be considered as a comfortable vote.
The Socialists, Liberals and Greens all declared that they were against his nomination but the outcome of the voting evidently meant that not everybody ‘toed the party line’. To their credit, there were quite a few within the ‘intolerant brigade’ who opted to vote for the diversity, inclusion and the promotion of a person’s rights that the Europe which Malta opted to join in 2004 stands for.
Dr Borg – or any other nominee, for that matter – should have never gone through such an ordeal. When he submitted himself to a three-hour-long grilling by MEPs earlier this month he put all cards on the table. He unequivocally defined what he stood for, what he believed in, what made him tick. “What you see is what you get,” he said.
At the same time, Dr Borg committed himself to work within the treaty of the EU, recognising the collegiality aspect of the European Commission that he aspired to sit on.
Yet, to a number of European parliamentarians who were obviously keen to make loud but vacuous noises – while at the same time displaying crass ignorance of the state of affairs in Malta – this was not enough. They did not agree with his “philosophy of life”, they said. What they really meant was that if Dr Borg did not think in the same way they did, then there was no way they would agree to him sitting on the Commission.
Mgr Charles Scicluna, who will be ordained Auxiliary Bishop on Saturday, could not have put it better and certainly spoke on behalf of the large majority of the Maltese people when he said: “Instead of ‘philosophy of life’ you can read ‘because you’re Catholic’.”
One would expect that politicians who vie for the confidence of constituents, on a national or European level, embrace principles and have their values.
In a Catholic country one is likely to find a majority of Catholic people with representatives in Parliament sharing such faith, opinions and values. In a Muslim country, it is Islam that is likely to prevail. The two can still co-exist and work together in international or multinational forums in full respect of each other.
Nobody should be ashamed of declaring what he believes in or embrace the values he stands for. Because of this, Dr Borg should not have allowed anybody to coerce him into signing the declaration that the Socialist Group in the European Parliament forced upon him. This was nothing if not an insult.
He had already explained in detail how he would proceed when faced with any situations that could be deemed ‘sensitive’. He had also proved to everybody that he was qualified and has what it takes to fulfil his role as European Commissioner. The nature of his portfolio seems to have escaped many of those who were opposing his nomination for some of the points they raised do not even fall within his jurisdiction.
But that was yesterday and Dr Borg must now put this ordeal behind him and look ahead.
He has a difficult job in front of him, not least dealing with the controversial tobacco directive.